After launching to the tune of 100,000 downloads per month, Wired magazine’s iPad edition has settled down to a more subdued distribution of between twenty- and thirty-thousand downloaders monthly. In order to try to get that number on the rise again, Conde Nast is set to offer the May issue of Wired for iPad for free with the download of the official app.
Free magazine content isn’t the only new edition to Wired, though. Conde Nast has baked in some new (and overdue) sharing features to the app, allowing readers to share links to articles on Facebook and Twitter. Since some of Wired‘s iPad content isn’t online, the app handles these links clunkily, by directing those following the link to download the latest issue of Wired magazine instead. Surely, the Daily’s approach of a screenshot capture of the page would be a better fit?
Also new to the Wired app: new shopping features that allow Wired reader to click a “buy now” button next to product names, advertisements, product reviews and the like. This will send readers over to Amazon via the in-app browser; any purchases made will give Conde Nast a referral payment.
Why the sudden generosity? Wired’s Howard Mittman said that it was time to show users how much the Wired app has improved, and giving away an issue for free was the best way to do it.
