Well, it's not clear that charging for articles on iOS really works either. Is anyone making money there? Certainly lots of Smurfberries being sold, but articles?
It seems that that's what he's trying to figure out, as explained on the linked introductory post.[0] He's figuring out what is and isn't necessary in building and distributing a digital magazine.
[0]: http://the-magazine.org/1/foreword