Playboy to start Web-subscription service, iPad app

Playboy Enterprises Inc., publisher of the namesake magazine, plans to start Web-based subscriptions that let readers browse current and past issues on tablet computers, tapping demand for devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad.

The service, to be introduced in March, includes nude content and is compatible with devices such as the iPad, Theresa Hennessey, a spokeswoman for Chicago-based Playboy, said today in an e-mail. In the coming months, Playboy also plans to release an application specifically for the iPad that will be “non-nude,” adhering to Apple's guidelines, she said.

Playboy, which last week agreed to be taken private for about $207 million by founder Hugh Hefner, is looking for new ways to boost revenue as it battles slumping circulation and losses. Apple said yesterday it sold 7.33 million iPads last quarter, eclipsing analysts' estimates.

The publisher, which also produces television content and licenses its logo, has seen magazine circulation and revenue drop in recent years. Last year, the company reduced Playboy magazine's rate base, the total of newsstand and subscription sales guaranteed to advertisers, to 1.5 million from 2.6 million.

Playboy Class B shares were unchanged at $6.11 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock increased 63 percent last year.