Like others mention, this doesn't require Newsstand - A good example of a great magazine is TRVL - it's free and looks beautiful on my iPad… and it's just an app.

I don't think people really value their privacy, or the no-hassle nature of newsstand would appeal to a lot more folks. Instead, we have a culture where either your information is already out there, and you get spammed/junkmailed/coldcalled a lot, or it's not, and you can't exactly trace how someone got it.