Review: Vanity Fair iPad App

This is part of the Top Magazine iPad series

Vanity Fair iPad App is another chic offering from Conde Naste. Like its sister apps, it offers clear, crisp images and easy navigation. It has got a range of bonus features which match up to  Glamour’s bonus features, such as exclusive behind-the-scenes videos. However its price model has come under my critical eye as there are  no subscription offers for loyal customers. Every issue is full-price. Tres chic but tres cher too.

Our Ratings:

1) Usefulness/Value to User

“Magazines are actually pretty brilliant concepts the way they are” said Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair . “At the same time, we have a few bells and whistles that a magazine cannot provide”. Vanity Fair certainly offers some exciting additions to the magazine reading, such as different viewing modes, navigation modes and video.  However the videos are not totally exclusive as they can be found on the internet and seen by visitors. The app is useful as it will enable  Conde Naste to experiment with pricing, advertising and methods for digitizing the print versions. Although the fact that the app is being sold through  iTunes puts a limit on Conde Nast’s access to marketing data from  the sales of the app.

6/10

2) Interface/ Useability

You can read Vanity Fair iPad app in two ways. The horizontal version lets you flip through an exact replica of the print magazine, and the vertical option has scrollable and re sizable text with exclusive slide shows and video. If you hold your iPad in portrait mode, you’ll find images at the top of the screen and text at the bottom; you’ll also see a different set of ads, including some with video.

7/10

3) Price

Although the Vanity Fair iPad app, like its sister apps, offers me extreme aesthetic pleasure, it has arrived under my critical eye. It has failed to provide a good subscription and delivery model.You can dowload the entire issue of the magazine for £4.20; subsequent issues are slightly reduced, as a purchase incentive. However, print subscribers don’t get a price break. £4.20 for the first issue, £3.20 for each thereafter is far more expensive than the current  subscription price on VanityFair.com.

2/10

4) Added functionality

There are bonus features, like for instance, this month’s edition of the Vanity Fair Magazine app includes exclusive behind-the-scenes video from the Hawaii shoot of the cast of Lost, an extended article by Jim Windolf about the final season of the show, an extended profile of Harry Potter star Emma Watson by Evgenia Peretz, as well as an app-only spotlight by illustrator extraordinaire Ed Sorel. Despite this some have still criticised the app for being underwhelming and do not feel that publishers are not gathering enough innovation and taking enough risks

7/10

Summary

The Vanity Fair iPad app creates expands the aesthetic experience of reading the magazine with the inclusion of its videos, imbedded in the feature.  However the price model needs to be revised.