It’s an exciting day for iPad owners as today, Graphicly [iFanboy’s parent company] announced that comics from Image Comics and BOOM! Studios are now available on the iOS 5 Newsstand for subscription. Through a brand new interface, readers will be able to access comics from the Newsstand and subscribe. This means that new issues will be delivered to the readers iPads automatically, same day as print. This is an exciting step in the movement towards making comics more accessible to a wider audience.
The titles that were released today include:
And they are available TODAY for purchase and subscription. You can also purchase back issues from the comic titles from within the application so that you can catch up with a new series. Additionally the new interface is an improved upon reading experience, making it even cooler to enjoy your comics on your iPad.
If you’ve got an iPad, check it out – we’d love to hear what you think!
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Am I reading the App wrong. Are new issues of these series $1.99.
I see $1.99 too. Pretty much seals the deal for me.
are these prices only 1 time deals? Not complaining, i’d happily buy these digital at regular prices as well.
the price is back to $1.99, i guess it was a fortunate glitch for some, will wait until the next issue of invincible to buy!
meant to say back to $2.99
If the price is $2.99, why subscribe? Is the automatic download really a big selling point? The same day price must be cheaper in the subscription to make it worth it
Well, it’s still cheaper than the $2.39 + shipping I pay now. Then there’s the whole instant gratification thing. I’m big on gratification.
I don’t mean why subscribe over buying in print, I mean why subscribe as opposed to just buying the issues when they come out? Usually a subscription is a commitment to purchase a years worth of content for a reduced price and/or to ensure you will receive the product. This subscription service provides neither of these benefits.
We had a small glitch early on that was corrected. We are looking into ways that we can increase the value of a subscription beyond the immediate gratification and subscription management. Stay tuned!
The biggest benefit of the newsstand is that as soon as the book is available, it will be available to you in your newsstand app, and you dont have to remember to find it and buy it. No longer needed to continually check to see if the issue has been uploaded or having to search for it, etc. Its just there.
Of course, I would love to hear your thoughts: You can email/call/tweet me directly: micah@graphicly.com/720-248-8499/@micah or check out our support page at http://getsatisfaction.com/graphicly
Congrats. This is a major score for your parent company (which has to be good news for you, too). I will be subscribing to at least couple of the titles listed above.
Bean
Nice, I just bought the Savage Dragon app, not sure if I will subscribe to it, but for $1.99 an issue I just might as it’s cheaper than Comixology’s $2.99 day and date price.
Couple of questions:
1. Can I delete comics from this app? This is the #1 most important factor in my decision.
2. Can I zoom in on pages? The regular comic pages are readable without zooming in, but I cannot read the letters page at all since pinch to zoom doesn’t seem to be a feature. This needs to be fixed.
3. Can I get rid of the little dogear at the top right? It is annoying to see all the time.
4. The left gutter is also annoying, as is the dark area that goes down the left hand side of each page over the “Staple” line.
It’s a step forward from the graphic.ly app though, and very convenient to have it in Newsstand.
Glad to hear you like the concept of getting books via the Newsstand. We’re excited about getting more and more great content closer to the fans (meaning: directly in Apple’s and others’ marketplaces).
Re: pricing, we had some initial glitches this morning, but now everything should be consistent across the apps. All new issues from Image will be $2.99 (meaning whether you buy in-app á la carte, or if you subscribe), while back issues will be $1.99. All new issues will be day and date as we initially announced with our launch of Image.
Re: your questions:
1. You cannot currently delete issues from the app, but we’re tracking this for a future update. Wholly agree that once you start downloading these issues, you’ll want to free up space. We’ve got a lot of new features in the pipeline for these Newsstand apps (including delete), so stay tuned. 🙂
2. Pinch-to-zoom will be coming in one of the next releases. In the short-term, we recommend switching to Portrait orientation instead of Landscape orientation if text is too small to read in spread mode (e.g. 2 pages side by side)
3. Not now. We want to make accessing the sidebar controls visible and discoverable to users, while making the least intrusion in the story/art. We’ll be looking at ways to perfect this, of course, to hit a better balance that what we currently have.
4. OK, thanks. We’re out with our initial release of this new book-reading functionality, so definitely taking in all users’ feedback on these types of effects.
Thanks again for the feedback. We really appreciate it.
I like this. However, Apple made a very strange decision by not making the little newsstand app that lists available titles searchable. I had to scroll through 5 pages of absolute garbage to find The Walking Dead. Yet another example of Apple form over function philosophy.
Agreed. Not making the Newstand searchable is crazy, especially as more content is added.
To be fair to Apple, the problem is persistent throughout “apps” on every platform. Is Newsstand downloaded through App store, like ibooks, or a part of ios 5. If the former, then there is hope for a quick update.
Newsstand is part of ios5, not downloaded like iBooks. However, all it really is, is a fancy pre-made folder to store apps, which is why you can’t put it inside another folder. These periodicals are all just apps, as well, Apple should come up with a better way to search them though.
Agree that search for Newsstand-enabled apps should be filtered to allow folks to find just that type of content. In the meantime, you *can* search for any of our apps just by searching for the title name… you’ll find lots of other content, too, but so far not seeing 5 pages of other results. (I know its not ideal.) Glad to hear you like the app.
If you purchase issues through the apple newstand subscription, are those issues also available to be viewed on the graphicly website or in other graphicly apps? So for example, if I set up a subscription to Walking Dead via my iPad, can I view those same issues on the web app or on my upcoming Kindle Fire without paying a second time?
Currently, we don’t have the “Sync to your Graphicly account” functionality, but this was just due to getting out the door for the iOS5 launch. We are absolutely working on this, which would sync your Newsstand purchases for availability on Graphicly’s other “storefront” apps (meaning: iPad app, iPhone app, Android app, AIR client, Web site, etc.). We’re actively working on getting content together for the Fire, so can’t yet confirm that, but your request is very much inline with Graphicly’s goal of letting you access your purchases in the medium you choose. Sometimes platforms restrict us a bit, but we’re always working towards that goal.
Glad to hear it. I can wait a few months for that to work, as long as it happens eventually.
Would the Iredeemable subscription be day and date digital? Im assuming the Image books are, but what about BOOM!?
Irredeemable will also be day and date for the Newsstand app.
Cautionary tweet from the guys at Comixology:
“Apple Newsstand subscr. charges every month, whether or not comic ships. Comics ship late. So, no comiXology newsstand yet.”
I would imagine this will be worked out sooner or later, and that Graphicly would make sure that you receive as many comics as you are charged for, but it’s worth noting that potential problem…
This is truly a non-issue. We are working with top notch publishers and ongoing series that are consistent. Understand that this is only an issue if a book in an ongoing series is delivered MONTHS late, not days or weeks.
If in the unlikely event this occurs, we are working with the publisher and Apple to ensure you will receive a high level of value.
We believe that for many publishers, creators and fans, this is a huge step forward, and are committed to ensuring it not only works, but excels.
Walking Dead and Invincible are both known for their consistent delays, so this will likely become an issue at some point. A “high level of value” is a vague term which indicates you’re working on the issue but haven’t figured out a solution yet. Although this makes sense, this should have been considered prior to launching this service. Unless a subscriber receives their money back for the late issue and/or a credit towards a future issue I don’t foresee a solution that would provide a “high level of value.” Additionally, I know you guys aren’t responsible for the pricing but without a reduced price this subscription service is not a “huge step forward.” This service is at best an alternative that provides a slight increase in convenience but in exchange requires a subscription commitment that may lead to problems when comics are inevitably delayed. The service may provide greater benefit for those new to comics that just want to read a specific series and aren’t used to the regular Wednesday release schedule, but for weekly comic fans something more is needed.
Considering that “Invincible” didn’t come out with a September issue just last month — the possibility that I’ll be charged for issues that don’t exist feels a bit more than a “non-issue” to me. I *love* the idea of having some titles appear in my Newsstand, but not if I’m going to be paying monthly for something that doesn’t exist.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my comics on paper…