Magazine publishers clearly have all that iPhone app store revenue on the brain. Just a week after People.com rolled out its $1.99 iPhone application, comes news that publishers like Time, Conde Nast and Hachette Filipacchi have plans to either release pay-for mobile apps or bundle subscription-based “premium” features to their existing free ones. 

SEE ALSO: People.com Releases Pay-To-Download App; One Of Several Attempts To Tap Alt Revenue Sources

It makes sense to try. While publishers continue to debate about whether people will pay for online editorial content and how to charge them for it, consumers are pumping millions of dollars into the app ecosystem through both subscriptions and micro-payments. Companies like Apple, Ning, Playfish, and individual developers are all getting people to pay for various types of “content” in snackable, interactive modules, so why shouldn’t magazines?

The challenge lies in creating the right mix of exclusive content and premium functionality so that people will want to pay. “We need to find a model where we’re doing something unique enough,” Jim Sexton, Time Inc. Lifestyle Digital SVP and editorial director told Mediaweek. For example, Sexton said a Time app coming down the pike could package recipes tailored to a user’s specific dietary needs. Rival Hachette is looking at launching car and shopping apps for its Elle and Car and Driver brands, respectively, while Conde Nast plans to add premium features to its apps for brands like Epicurious.

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