Costs to make a magazine iPad App

So you’re curious: “How much does it cost to make a magazine iPad App?”

I’ve been getting that question a lot lately from our clients. After some phone calls, research, and direct involvement with projects, I’m able to provide a basic list of costs. There a lot of variables to consider in this endeavor and so I’m just going to keep it as simple as possible!

You will need to consider the pre-costs of the design/conversion of the existing issues into the layouts needed for the iPad. This is a highly variable amount, and will be based on the quality of design, the number of pages, the level of rich media (links, video, etc.), among other costs. You will need to have the designer or agency generate this estimate based on your needs. Let’s just say in this case we’re looking at $6-8K.

The layout/interactive program used to make the magazine iPad App, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), incurs an annual fee of $6K for Professional Level, unless you are anticipating an excess of 500,000 downloads, in which case, there is a higher level and price point (Enterprise Level for $48K annually, for the big leaguers). Note that a design agency has the ability to purchase the DPS for themselves and use it for multiple clients. In this situation, the design agency itself absorbs the annual $6K fee, but will resell to you the per-download fees at whatever price point they determine.

The DPS annual fee includes a one-time 5000 download package that expires 1 year from purchase, and is not renewed with the annual subscription. The 5000 downloads will only apply if you are planning on having multiple issues – especially within a year timeframe – referred to as having a “library” of issues (hosted by Adobe servers) and the App acts only as “reader” that allows you access to the multiple issues. Once you approach or exceed 5000 downloads of issues pulled from the library, you will have to purchase more downloads. They start in packages of 10K at $3000.

However, if you think you may only do 1 issue a year, the issue can be self-contained within the App and the per-issue downloads do not apply, since there are not multiple issues housed in the library. You can then “update” the App or release a new App altogether and still not worry about the number of downloads from the library.

From Apple/iTunes, you would need to purchase a iOS Developers License for $99 to allow you to upload/distribute/sell Apps on iTunes. Note that it can take anywhere from 7 days to a few weeks to have an App “approved” by Apple before it is actually available on iTunes.

You can decide whether and what you want to charge for your App, or issues from your library. Apple will take a 30% cut of any sales you make. You will need to consider what people may be willing to pay, and how you will market the App to let people know it is available.

Based on all of the above, to create a single self-contained issue App using your own DPS account, you’re looking somewhere around $12K-$14K  upfront costs, with some of that cost being recouped based on whether  you charge for the App.

It’s no small potatoes, and you should definitely have a strategy for “why” you’re producing the App and a marketing plan for once you commit.