Hewlett-Packard's MagCloud print-on-demand service out of beta and rolled out worldwide

After a two year U.S. trial, Hewlett-Packard is rolling out its MagCloud print-on-demand service worldwide, according to a story from Reuters, and will offer a software app for Apple's iPad tablet to allow downloading digital copies of magazines and order hard copies. 

"Volumes are becoming significant and that's why we're ramping it (the service) up out of beta," Andrew Bolwell, HP's director of new business initiatives, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "We really feel there's a multi-billion opportunity."....

HP, whose imaging and printing division accounts for about a fifth of company sales and a third of its operating profit, will use its network of Indigo printing-press customers in the U.S. and Europe to print and deliver for MagCloud.

HP's standard price is 20 cents per page, which includes a small profit margin for HP, and publishers set their own prices for consumers, taking the entire mark-up.
Consumers pay for delivery, which costs about $1.40 in the U.S. and is subsidised by HP. Bolwell declined to say whether HP was yet covering its costs.