Ever wanted to be able to access every issue of Playboy magazine published since December 1953 on your iPad? Even if just for the articles?
You’re in luck: Playboy Enterprises, the media company behind the magazine, this morning announced a web-based subscription service that gives users the opportunity to read, search and explore every single Playboy issue. → Read More
Playboy Enterprises, the world-famous adult entertainment and media company, is to “go private” again.
The media company, which of course publishes the Playboy magazine but also runs an Internet business segment called Playboy Online, alongside TV and radio networks, will be taken private for $6.15 per share by Icon Acquisition Holdings.
The latter is a limited partnership controlled by iconic Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner (who also just got engaged, hurray!). Playboy originally went public in 1971. → Read More
What is it with the combination of video games and hot chicks? Oh yeah, they both appeal to young, sweaty men. Playboy.com is getting into the online video game business through a partnership with Bigpoint Games. The first game will be Poisonville, which is kind of like a browser-based version of Grand Theft Auto, except that the characters are “beautiful, Playboy-caliber women.”
Poisonville is a 3D, massively multiplayer game where you are part of a gang of Playboy models who shoot the cops and blow things up. Yeah. Enjoy the trailer below. → Read More
Zivity is a great site for women and photographers who aren’t afraid to get a little racy to express themselves and potentially be discovered. That said, they obviously don’t have the reach of something like Playboy. But thanks to a new partnership between the two, interested women can potentially get the best of both worlds.
Playboy will host a series of contests on Zivity, the winners of which will get to appear on Playboy.com. The Playboy community will choose themes for each of these contests. Here are some of the ones already being thrown out there: “Hottest Super Heroes,” “Show Your Lady Gaga,” “Suits and Stockings,” “Glistening Lips,” “Babes in Boots,” “Downy Hairs,” “Girls with Glasses” — you get the idea. → Read More
I do wonder, years from now, what Future Man will think of human beings of the year 2010? Will he think we did the best we could, or will he look at things like 3D Playboy magazine and be like, “Yeah, we’re shocked the species survived as long as it did. Why didn’t, like, squirrels take over?” → Read More
Playboy is a magazine that actually does have really good content, I swear. But yes, most people know it as the magazine that each month features nude pictures of their Playmates. And now the magazine has an iPhone app in the App Store. But those concerned that this might ruin Apple’s prude stance with the store, fear not: There is no nudity.
Instead, the app features easy access to some of the main articles in the magazine each month. And it does so in a very slick and sexy way, the app is among the fastest I’ve seen in terms of transition between the different areas. The app also shows you who the featured Playmate of the month is, but all you get is the introduction, the data sheet (which I’m actually kind of surprised Apple even let through), and a series of sexy, but clothed photos. Each Playmate also has a video about their shoot, but again, no nudity. → Read More
The clock’s ticking for Playboy, folks.
During an earnings call earlier today, Playboy Enterprises‘ interim CEO Jerome Kern (who replaced Hugh Hefner’s daughter Christie after she stepped down last December) didn’t really have any uplifting news to share. The publishing company reported a $13.7 million net loss during the first quarter of 2009, more than 3 times the loss it took during the same period in 2008 ($4.2 million). Athough, we should note Kern indicated that the loss includes $8.7 million of “impairment and restructuring charges”.
In October 2008, Playboy laid off over a quarter of its workforce, axed its DVD business and its New York office and consequently merged its print and online operations to reduce costs significantly. → Read More
Facing rising ink and paper costs and a declining demand for physical discs, the world’s most recognizable skin rag — I mean, adult entertainment periodical — is getting out of the DVD business. Their online distribution system will be their primary method of content distribution, and other cost-cutting measures will be taken in order to return the company to profitability. Another sign of the times, I guess. What shocks me is the small scale of the operation. Their entire DVD division is being axed and it’s 55 jobs. This is Playboy we’re talking about here! And their yearly revenue is around $70-80 million. Why, I could buy and sell them 10 times over! Actually, no. But I’d like to. Interestingly, they’re focusing on Playboy fragrances. Who wants to smell like… whatever that is? [via HardOCP] → Read More
I do not understand. What’s the point of having a Playboy-branded cellphone if it doesn’t have photos of unattainable naked ladies pre-loaded onto it? Is the idea that some future bunny will see the logo and be overcome with the idea of posing for me, so that I might shoot her nude form with the included 1.3 megapixel camera? I guess it’s a decent looking phone, including the purplish colorization, but the branding has me confused. Playboy is supposed to be simple, there’s a lifestyle around the brand that basically says “naked chicks”. This phone does not. → Read More
Put on your creative thinking caps, fellas. Following the launch of Playboy Mobile last week, THQ announced “Playboy Games: Pool Party” for mobile phones that let you customize your own Playmates and have them compete in pool-related activities. The Playmate Editor allows you to be as pervy as you want so you can create a voluptuous playmate to compete in various challenges, which will in turn, create the right mood for the pool party. It launches in July. Hopefully we get the launch party invite. *wink, wink* → Read More
In the interest of human dignity, I will spare you any “funny” jokes about this Playboy cellphone. The only thing that makes it a Playboy phone is the logo on the front. That’s it. And on top of that, it’s a pretty terrible phone for 2008. Only a 1.3-megapixl cam and 10MB onboard memory. You have heard of the iPhone, right? I hear it’s pretty good. via Gizmodo → Read More
Doug Aamoth and Peter Ha here in Hugh Hefner’s private loft on the 34th floor of the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. Nine girls will be competing for the title of “Miss Mobile Playboy” as a kickoff to Playboy’s second generation of mobile content. → Read More
I was skeptical when Playboy launched its exclusive social network for college students in August called PlayboyU, mostly because Hef’s adult entertainment empire had chosen merely to brand a standard Ning website. While it’s questionable to me whether a corporate brand can ever sustain a large and active social network, it just didn’t seem like the company was trying very hard to leverage its assets and create a uniquely Playboy social networking experience. In apparent response to disappointing engagement levels (PlayboyU had about 5,000 members in early November and, as of writing, only 12 “site activity” items in the last 12 hours), Playboy is pushing a fairly lengthy survey on its “charter members” through email and on-site ads. It asks questions about social network usage, Playboy brand perceptions and, most importantly, the appeal of integrating magazine content into the social network (although with little emphasis on nudity, suggesting that Playboy is still wary of turning PlayboyU into an outlet for soft pornography). Among the types of content considered by the survey are cartoons, music picks, advice from Playboy experts, behind the scenes footage of Playboy events, Playmate and “Girls of” profiles, excerpts from “The Girls Next Door” show, fashion pages, and party jokes. Playboy is also apparently weighing the option of creating a “public” site for college age adults that would provide not only traditional Playboy content but serve as a resource like Princeton Review with guides to campus life and ranking systems, as well as “original editorial and video segments related to college life.” This second site would probably not replace PlayboyU, since the registration requirement of a “.edu” email address is one – if not the – selling point of the current social network (see the video created by a site representative below). It’s too early to tell whether this survey will amount to any real changes to PlayboyU, although the company is obviously exploring ways to improve the social network by taking it in new directions. We’ll just have to see what Playboy comes up with in 2008, and whether it finds Ning to be flexible enough for its attempts at differentiation. → Read More
While Alice Mathias may have overplayed the frivolous uses of Facebook for college students in her article called The Fakebook Generation published in the Grey Lady a few weeks ago, she was certainly correct in saying that Facebook lost a certain je ne sais quoi for students when it opened up to the real world last fall. So instead of trying to take this $15 billion animal head on, as one $222 billion beast is attempting to do, startups might be wise to try capturing the niche that Facebook has intentionally left behind. Of course, there are a handful of reasons to think there will never be another social network that catches on so quickly and so thoroughly with college students. Namely, Facebook itself, which still holds the attention of the vast majority of college students. Personally, I think any company that tries to create a social network for college students faces a very steep uphill battle. But you can’t blame them for trying. Let’s say you did want to capitalize on students’ (growing?) discontent with the “mature” Facebook; what strategy would you follow? You’d probably want to take a few pages out of Facebook’s own, er, book by restricting membership to users with .edu email addresses, gradually opening up to elite schools, and keeping things stupidly simple. But you’d also have to provide something particularly unique, useful, or entertaining that tempts mainstream Facebook users to jump ship. We’ve taken a look at the websites out there claiming that they are the next “it” social network for college students. And we’ve got to say: overall, we’re not terribly impressed. Only one stands out – a website called College Tonight – and this because of its novel attempt to bring social networking back into the real world. College Tonight is well-designed and has some features you won’t find in other social networks, such as an area for lost and found items at your school and a place to “drunk dial” with messages you can take back in the morning (if you’re up and out of bed in time). The company behind this site, which launches Monday, also has a set of undisclosed features in the works that tempt us into believing that they might actually appeal enough to college students to survive. We’ll have to write more about them later once we’re more informed. The other decent site among the bunch → Read More
Well, this is a big win for build-your-own-social-network Ning, which just raised a massive round of funding. The new Playboy social network we covered earlier today is actually built on Ning, not self-built code or one of the many other white label social networking options available. Once you actually sign up for the site it becomes clear it’s Ning, since their pervasive toolbar remains at the top of the site. Users actually use their Ning address to log in. You must have a .edu address to get an invitation, but you can then sign up using any Ning account. Whether or not this network is successful, it’s great validation for Ning. → Read More
In order to combat sluggish sales, Playboy has recently launched Playboy U, a social networking site just for college students. Remember when Facebook was just for college students? Well Playboy U is sorta like that. → Read More
Update: Playboy U is built on the Ning platform The recent launch of Silicon Valley funded adult/porn site Zivity raised a few eyebrows. Now one of the old sovereigns of sexy is getting into the game, too. CrunchGear reports that Playboy is launching their own sexy social networking site just for college students, Playboy U. Playboy U requires all users to have a .edu email addresses, mimicking Facebook’s early policy of only allowing college students to join. They say, “Sorry, but high schoolers, old dudes and your Mom can’t join”. However, The site won’t be as lascivious as the periodical. In what may be a bummer for some, the site will be “an exclusive college-only non-nude social network”. Furthermore, it will be a place to “show your school pride, connect with other students and celebrate the social side of college”. But I’m sure they’re not going to police the whole network for porn. Student profiles will consist of the usual social network features including, bios, photos, videos, Blogs, and Forums. Schools will have customized pages, parties and on-campus events, and a national radio show with student callers. Other magazines have been trying to get with the times and fight floundering readership by launching their own social networks too. Rolling Stone recently announced plans for their own network as well. But Playboy may have some better luck with readership already skewing toward the college following. Lots of college students lament the loss of their exclusive Facebook social network to the older crowd. They may be receptive to a newer, cooler alternative. Something tells me that Playboy may not be the brand to steal their hearts, though. → Read More
Playboy, always at the forefront of high technology and commerce, has created some special wallpapers for your iPhone. Not much skin in these — they want you to “buy” their “magazine” to see boobs — but it’s important that people understand that even in the dusty halls of Playboy, behind a vaseline-stained skrim and rolls of gauzy curtain material, there is a TV playing CNN non stop and someone — probably a jaded pornagrapher — is paying attention to what the kids are into today. PR0N page via Machinist → Read More
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