Duncan Edwards, Hearst Magazines International’s chief executive, told Peters that he was inspired to launch a Mongolian Cosmo after hearing a Louis Vuitton exec say that his company had just opened a store in Ulan Bator, Mongolia’s capital. Though the nation’s population is small and scatterd, Edwards believes it “has the potential to grow dramatically in terms of its wealth over the next few years”—meaning, of course, that the need to know 25 ways to become a legendary flirt will only grow.

The new publication has a print run of just 7,000 copies and costs 7,000 Mongolian tugriks an issue—about $6.50. Its first issue includes “an introduction to [Cosmo's] modern founder, Helen Gurley Brown,” and a cover featuring Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, who must be just as well-known in Mongolia as she is in the United States. We hope there’s also a Mongolian version of this piece from American Cosmo, “How to Beat the Winter Blues”—we hear that January in the Uvs Lake Basin can be pretty brutal.

Christina Boyle of the New York Daily News reports that Tuesday morning, a group of five teaching veterans and Green Party members—Betty Davis, Tony Gronowicz, Elizabeth Shanklin, Gloria Mattera and Tom Siracuse—showed up at the publishing giant’s midtown headquarters and attempted to drop off their resumes:

“I’m absolutely unqualified to run a public company, which is exactly what Cathie Black is to run the New York City public school system,” quipped Gloria Mattera, who has two graduate degrees in education and a son in the public school system.

The five job candidates vented about Black’s appointment by Mayor Bloomberg, and one of the protesters, Tom Siracuse, was armed with the “Guide to Successful Publishing” to show his eagerness to learn.

The group didn’t get far.

The candidates waltzed through the glass doors to Hearst headquarters and were greeted in the lobby by the deputy director of corporate security, Ted Lotti. He took their résumés and sent them a way.

It sounds like a clever protest, albeit a fairly anemic one—what, the group’s ringleader couldn’t convince more than four people to join the cause? Then again, maybe the rest of the education experts had actual work to do. Read the rest at the Daily News.

Hearst Corporation has announced Helen Thomas will be retiring, effective immediately.

Here’s the full announcement from Hearst:

HELEN THOMAS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2010 – Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring, effective immediately.

Her decision came after her controversial comments about Israel and the Palestinians were captured on videotape and widely disseminated on the Internet.

Thomas later issued a statement: “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.’’

Thomas will mark her 90th birthday on Aug. 4.

Thomas was not in the briefing room today, when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her comments “offensive and reprehensible.”

Update: Video of FNC’s announcement:

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Who is the latest publisher to unveil a new gadget in hopes of saving their business model? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Skiff, brought to you by Hearst!

Reporting for MediaWeek, Lucia Moses writes:

Hearst Corp. revealed its first image and a few details about its Skiff Reader, the e-reader device for digital newspapers and magazines that it plans to preview at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Skiff device is one of a number of wireless reading devices and services that are expected to be shown at CES. Rumor has it that the most anticipated of them, the Apple tablet, will be announced Jan. 24.

At one-quarter of an inch thick, the Skiff reader is the thinnest e-reader that’s been announced to date, Skiff claims. It measures 11.5 inches diagonally, making it bigger than the popular Amazon Kindle, which measures 9.7 inches, and Plastic Logic’s 11-inch screen. Presumably, it also makes an attractive option for newspaper and magazine publishers that are looking to create an interactive and dynamic representation of their publications on e-readers.

The Skiff will also be the first product on the market to utilize a new “metal foil” technology developed by LG, which CNET summarizes as “a next-generation e-paper display that’s based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil.”

There are varying opinions on the e-Readers, and the likelihood of them saving an industry that is in slow and steady decline. It is possible that the Hearst product could be a hit, perhaps even the industry standard. It’s also possible that I suddenly develop a crafty knuckleball and find myself pitching for the New York Yankees this season.

What’s far more likely, and the reasoning behind the Skiff, and other publisher-backed e-Reader products, is it will give them far more leverage in negotiating with Amazon (whose Kindle is way ahead) and Apple (whose looming tablet has grown to Messianic proportions without much solid information.)

If the millions of research and development spent on launching the Skiff leads Hearst to a more significant cut of an eventual revenue share, then it will have served its purpose.

The “Hulu for magazines” joint venture spearheaded by John Squires officially has a name: Next Issue Media. According to Folio, the partnership has some real heavyweights behind it: Time Inc., Meredith, Hearst, Condé Nast and News Corporation. All of which represent some serious old media muscle, but will they be able to compete in the digital marketplace?

AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka has a nice summary of the steep obstacles they will face, which include getting Amazon and Apple onboard and, well, creating a product that people want to buy:

They’ll have to convince consumers who already have billing relationships with Amazon, Apple and other vendors to sign up with yet another service.

They’ll have to convince device makers to play along with the strategy, which runs counter to many of their own plans. Both Amazon and Apple, for instance, have intentionally created closed systems that give them control of both devices and distribution.

They’ll have to create content consumers want to buy. The new product can’t simply be a digital version of the magazines they’re already printing: That’s already available on the Web, and consumers have shown almost no interest in paying for it, and advertisers haven’t fully embraced it either.

At that, the New York Observer‘s John Koblin reports that John Squires has been a powerful driving force behind the venture; what Squires can accomplish by sheer force of will should not be underestimated.

A quick GoDaddy search reveals that nextissuemedia.com is registered to CooperKatz & Company, a “New York based marketing and public relations firm specializing in technology, financial and professional services, trade associations and consumer products,” the name of which appears on some of the joint venture’s press releases.

The Hearst title is one of the first to offer a paper-less version of such quality, not through the world wide web, but with an iPhone app. For $2.99 you can buy the whole January issue in a format designed optimally for your Apple brand mobile smartphone.

That means all of the finger scrolling, finger zooming and finger smudges you love about the iPhone, transplanted onto Esquire magazine — meaning, you can actually touch your Funny Joke From a Beautiful Woman. Most impressive, though, is the multi-format table of contents, which allow you to choose articles based on large pictures or in a list format for maximum usability.

Mashable has an issue review, or you can watch the tutorial below, and see each and every intuitive feature demonstrated. Welcome, once again, to the future:

Today, the day of reckoning is upon us as Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. have announced their plan to save the world, anti-trust laws be damned. (Let’s just assume their lawyers are better than ours.)

Here’s the prescription: all of the old white men from all of the companies will work together to “develop open standards” for a “digital storefront” — that is, or sounds like, the much ballyhooed iTunes for Magazines. Then comes the development of technology that will allow readers to “enjoy their favorite media content” on portable devices including phones, e-readers and laptops. From today’s press release:

The goal of this digital initiative is fourfold, to create: a highly featured common reading application capable of rendering the distinctive look and feel of each publication; a robust publishing platform optimized for multiple devices, operating systems and screen sizes; a consumer storefront offering an extensive selection of reading options; and a rich array of innovative advertising opportunities.

It’s as ambitious as ever, but when every competitor with money is all in, the risk is either enormous or nonexistent, depending on how you look at it. From a business standpoint, no company will likely be outdone by another because of the teamwork aspect. But if it fails, are we kissing magazines goodbye for good?

The project, as previously noted, will be headed by an interim leader, Time Inc.’s John Squires, who notes that “Once purchased, this content will be ‘unlocked’ for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform.” It’s only the purchasing that sounds problematic, considering magazine websites can already be accessed “anywhere, anytime” on cell phones, computers, readers and even mp3 players. For free. But hopefully, the technological firepower this group will have at its disposal will work to improve on the current e-iterations we have. If it’s out there, this supergroup plans to perfect it.

And what of the money?

Advertisers will be able to utilize innovative formats that benefit from the highly engaging, interactive nature of this new medium. In addition to entirely new magazine and newspaper reading experiences, content selections may ultimately include books, comic books, blogs and other media.

Enjoy the free blogs while they last.

The full release is below:

LEADING PUBLISHERS FORM VENTURE TO OFFER CONSUMERS
NEW DIGITAL STOREFRONT AND PORTABLE READING EXPERIENCE

Initiative Will also Offer Marketers Rich Array of Innovative Advertising Opportunities

New York, NY, December 8, 2009 – Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will allow consumers to enjoy their favorite media content on portable digital devices.

The goal of this digital initiative is fourfold, to create: a highly featured common reading application capable of rendering the distinctive look and feel of each publication; a robust publishing platform optimized for multiple devices, operating systems and screen sizes; a consumer storefront offering an extensive selection of reading options; and a rich array of innovative advertising opportunities.

Beyond the publications of the equity partners, the venture will welcome other publishers to offer their content via this new digital platform. Publishers will derive revenue from content and advertising sales, as well as from print subscriptions.

“For the consumer, this digital initiative will provide access to an extraordinary selection of engaging content products, all customized for easy download on the device of their choice, including smartphones, e-readers and laptops,” explained John Squires, the venture’s interim managing director. “Once purchased, this content will be ‘unlocked’ for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform.”

For publishers and advertisers, the venture will offer an attractive, cost-efficient, consumer-focused environment. Advertisers will be able to utilize innovative formats that benefit from the highly engaging, interactive nature of this new medium. In addition to entirely new magazine and newspaper reading experiences, content selections may ultimately include books, comic books, blogs and other media.

For the hardware, software and retail industries, the initiative will provide dynamic new business opportunities by organizing a library of quality content with a common format and technical specifications. The venture partners represent an unduplicated audience of 144.6 million according to Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI). By the end of 2010, Forrester Research estimates that 10 million e-readers will be sold in the U.S., and according to m:Metrics (comScore), there will be over 50 million smartphones in the U.S. by the end of 2010.

Some of the biggest rivals in magazine publishing are close to a deal that would combine their forces in an effort to resuscitate a dying print industry. Titans of the media world — including Condé Nast, Heart and Time Inc. — are working to form an alliance that would recreate magazines for a digital age, in a plan that includes new mobile iterations sold in an iTunes-like store, as well as print magazines, according a report in The Observer. It’s like a publisher’s version of Voltron.

That means most of the country’s largest, most influential magazines — People, Time, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker — all in one place, so desperate to survive this Great Print Depression that one group no longer believes they can provide the fix that will put them ahead of their peers. The only way we’ll get out of this, they seem to be saying, is if we all pour every resource into the reinvention of a medium. Together.

Leaked Time Inc. memos hinted at such a supergroup back in September, revealing the consideration of an alliance to compete with devices like Amazon’s Kindle. “Handwritten notes indicate Time Inc. executives have discussed the new venture with other magazine publishers, including Conde Nast, Meredith, and Hearst,” reported one source.

Now, the deal is “imminent.” In his piece, Observer media maven John Koblin reveals Time Inc.’s John Squires as the interim chief of the project, charged with “generating interest” and insisting publishers “pull together.” The anonymous sources Koblin uses to bolster his case seem optimistic, but cautious and vague:

“The really, really hard part is that you’ve got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want.”

And though Squires refused to comment for the piece, Koblin added relevant quotes past interviews with the Time Inc. digital futurist:

“With magazines, the form has to change,” [Squires] continued. “All I’m saying is that there are ways to design magazines differently for that kind of experience that’ll be attractive and will feel different to a consumer.”

It smells too big to fail, but is the innovation there? If the names being tossed around are a proper indication, money won’t be an issue, but as a consumer, you’re left waiting, hoping the ideas will follow.

NBCBayArea.com claims that Time Inc.’s strategy for entering the e-reader market “are on a fast track,” and that they are seeking to unveil its plans within the next three months. The publishing giant appears to be looking to leverage its estimated 100,000,000 readers in hopes to define the future consumption of magazine content.

The article continues:

The Time Inc. presentation, titled “New Platforms & Business Models for Publishers,” is dated June 25, 2009, which shows how rapidly Time’s internal strategy shifted. The version obtained by NBC shows handwritten notes updating the presentation, which circulated as recently as August, which indicate Time plans to launch something within the next three months.

“We’re speaking with a number of hardware and software companies as well as other content companies about various projects,” said Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges when asked about the project. “At this point we don’t have anything else to say publicly.”

However, the end of the piece makes the interesting revelation:

The presentation concludes that Time Inc. and other partners should form a new, jointly owned company. Time Inc. might spin out its Maghound service, a service which lets consumers bundle multiple magazines together into a single monthly subscription, to form the base of the joint venture. The company is also considering acquiring other businesses to jumpstart the venture.

Handwritten notes indicate Time Inc. executives have discussed the new venture with other magazine publishers, including Conde Nast, Meredith, and Hearst.

Magazines have begun entering this space via iPhone applications, and with dwindling circulation numbers, publishers are interested in the market as well. News Corp. is reported to be looking into its own electronic reader for its large newspaper business. And Hearst recently released its own plans for an e-reader in March. At that time, Time Inc. executives said they had no plans to enter the field.

Will Time Inc.’s entry into the uncertain e-reader market be a smart move? Lest we forget, this is the company that acquired AOL. However, a larger partnership with other magazine publishers could have better results.

Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller has positioned News Corp. as a logical leader in the effort to start collecting fees from online readers because of its success with the Wall Street Journal Online, which boasts more than 1 million paying subscribers. He is believed to have met with major news publishers including New York Times Co., Washington Post Co., Hearst Corp. and Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times.

Sound familiar? Steve Brill is attempting to do something along similar lines with his Journalism Online initiative, which announced the other day that 506 publications had signed letters of intent to become affiliates. However the fact that News Corp has apparently been in touch with both Hearst and the Washington Post Co. suggests they may also be interested in bringing magazines on board. The fact they have been meeting with the New York Times Co., well that just sounds like the media version of a Vito Corleone calling for a meeting of the Five Families to put an end to the violence (in this case, the freebies). You know: “It’s not like the Old Days, when we can do anything we want.”

Keith Kelly

Kelly reports:

Fashion magazines, which last week released their ad tallies for the all-important September issues, are having a very tough year as high-end luxury advertisers and retailers sharply cut back on ad spending amid the recession.

Through the August issue, Elle was down 20 percent to 1,099.5 ad pages, according to Media Industry Newsletter, giving it a brief lead over industry standard Vogue for the first eight months of 2009. However, Vogue, with 427 ad pages in September, passed Elle to regain the lead. Through September, Vogue has about 1,476 pages, compared with Elle’s 1,428, according to preliminary estimates.

Still, the fact that the race is thisclose is a boon to Elle and its editor-in-chief, Robbie Myers, since the magazine has never come close to beating the segment leader, which is led by Anna Wintour.

If rumors are true, why would Hachette want to sell off a profitable magazine that is on its way up? Perhaps because it’s one of the few titles of value that that they can use for liquidation. Publishing companies are looking to acquire magazines that make money, a rare breed in this current economic climate.

Many consider the selling off of successful title to be a drastic action for a publishing company in need of cash – something we could be seeing much more of in the future. Will Time Inc. look to sell InStyle? Will Conde Nast sell Glamour? If so, who will buy them? Bruce Wasserstein can only purchase so many titles.