Hamish McKenzie for PandoDaily:
In May, Arment sold The Magazine to its editor, Glenn Fleishman. In the ensuing months, the publication has still been pulling in enough revenue to cover its costs, but it has recently started to lose subscribers. Fleishman, who won’t give out subscription numbers, suspects the iOS7-instigated changes to Apple’s Newsstand have something to do with it.
OK, I get that the new Newsstand isn’t as obvious as the old one (especially now you can hide it in a folder), but let’s be real; magazine subscriptions waver up and down all the time.
If you ask me, there’s probably a range of factors (including the new Newsstand) to explain why The Magazine’s subscriptions are down. Chief among them for me; Marco isn’t behind the wheel anymore. Love him or hate him, he’s a popular personality, and he drives people to stuff.