Cosmopolitan may be aimed at women, but there are a lot of men out there who just can't resist its siren call. (Something about those tips on how to please your man must just be irresistible.) Now, those men won't have to read the magazine with their girlfriends, or sneak off and read it by themselves. They'll have one for their very own. On Aug. 1, editor-in-chief Kate White will launch a Cosmo for Guys app for the iPad.
The app, "CFG: What Women Want Straight From the Source," will be available in Apple's iTunes store for $19.99 per year and $3.99 for individual monthly issues. It’ll contain fashion advice, gift-giving ideas, and of course, sex tips. And unlike the typical men’s magazine fare, it'll come from a woman's point of view.
Explained White: “It is advice for guys about women, straight from the source. Men like to circulate the same myth to women. This will clear the air.”
The idea for CFG goes back to White’s early days at Cosmo, where she started 13 years ago.
“I saw a lot of emails from guys saying they read the magazine,” she said. “They said they read it with a girlfriend or with nobody seeing that they read it. And they often ended with saying, ‘You ought to do something for guys.’”
Over the years, White has proposed a male version of Cosmo in print and on the Web. But the economics of launching a magazine were untenable, and the company’s Web development staff was busy with other projects.
Last year’s launch of the iPad, combined with the arrival of Hearst Magazines president David Carey, who encouraged editors to expand their brands, created an opening. “David was for it, and I just took a few people on my team and we put it together,” White said.
