US-based men’s magazine GQ has celebrated the success of its December issue ‘Men of the Year’ iPhone app, announcing that it has sold over 6,600.

The Conde Nast publication released its $2.99 app in 2009 and has seen its popularity grow – its January issue app sales grew to 12,000, netting the magazine an extra $60,000.

While the sales of the app are dwarfed by the actual published magazine’s circulation (about 908,000), the increase of its electronic popularity is raising hopes for the industry.

A week before Apple’s rumoured release of a electronic publishing view platform (the ‘tablet’), industry commentators are heralding a new age in how people consume magazines, books and newspapers.

In the US, the popularity of the GQ app has enticed other publications to invest in the technology, with Hearst Magazines revealing the launch of an Esquire app.