Their decision to go all-digital hastens the problems newspapers and print are experiencing, as blogs and websites dominate, and readers favor tablets and mobile devices over pages. The last issue of the magazine will have a December 31 cover date.
Starting next year, it will be rebranded as a subscription-based digital publication called Newsweek Global. There are currently 1.5 million subscribers (down from a peak of 3 million) that will gain access to the digital edition, and the new digital-only Newsweek would be on par with current print price (currently they also offer the iPad edition at $24.99 annually, and a combined print-iPad yearly subscription for $39.99). Newsweek will still offer selected content for free on the Daily Beast website.
With the loss of U.S. News & World Report in 2010 to digital and the move by Newsweek, TIME magazine has not made any mention of a full shift to digital while they enjoy the lack of print competition. And it remains to be seen if the tabloid-esque and attention getting covers of late - the Muslim uprising in the Middle East, a photoshopped picture of Princess Diana, and President Obama under the tagline "The First Gay President" - will have the same impact among the interweb's usual assortment of ridiculous opinions. Now they'll have to compete for relevance against the Huffington Posts and Drudge Reports, who's time on the web means more than Nwesweek's decades in print.
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