Condé Nast, the publisher behind iPad magazines such as Vanity Fair, GQ and Wired has reported a huge boom in digital subscriptions since the release of iOS 5 on to the Apple tab.

It has reported an increase of 268 per cent for subscriptions and 142 per cent for single issues.

"We couldn’t be happier," said the company's EVP Monica Ray. "It’s clear that the focused attention and greater discoverability Newsstand provides our brands has been embraced by the consumer.

"While we recognise the spike in sales is in part fueled by the attention the launch received, we are very optimistic that we will see a consistently higher level of growth going forward than we did prior to the app’s introduction."

Newsstand is basically a folder where all your favourite digital publications are kept. In the App Store you'll now see a section just for newspaper and magazine subscriptions, which you can also access direct from Newsstand. Your new mags go directly to your Newsstand folder and new issues are updated if you have a subscription.

Future Publishing has also reported ""exceptionally high levels of activity" and Exact Editions has seen its sampler apps downloaded 14 times more often with sales doubled "across the board" according to co-founder Adam Hodgkin.

Check out our Apple iOS 5 review to see what else the update has brought