Printing Choice has a comparison of iPad vs magazines. At one point, it refers to ‘the pricing problem’, seemingly suggesting iPad magazines are a massive rip-off, due to the “lack of subscription options” creating a “price disparity for magazine/app buyers”.

On looking at the figures, it’s an easy conclusion to come to. One issue of Wired on the iPad is $4.99, which is the same as the subscription price. But a year of Wired on the iPad is $59.88, compared to $10 via subscription.

Some readers might have just had an alarm bell go off in their head, at least if they’re not American. No, that’s not a typo—Wired really does cost as little as a dollar per issue in the USA. To my mind, that is the pricing problem with magazines, not a supposed price-hike on the iPad. US publications are already absurdly dependant on (declining) advertising revenue, and due to low subscription costs no-one sees any value in them. (Maxim’s figures are even more absurd, with a subscription costing less than two newsstand issues.)