The Times had an average daily sale of 445,962 in February. The equivalent figure for The Daily Telegraph was 628,338. Not all that much difference, you might say. And yet the financial fortunes of the two papers are very unalike.

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Global sales of "street" papers, which includes magazines and newspapers sold by homeless vendors, increased 10 percent in the last year, according to the latest data provided by the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), Journalism.co.uk reported Monday.

Readership of the 155 publications, which are sold in 40 countries and offered in 24 languages, also increased from 4.8 million in 2009 to 5.3 million in 2010. The INSP stated in a press release that the major growths were reported in North America, Europe and Asia.

Photo source: International Network of Street Papers

"Any increases in paid-for circulation--and certainly on this scale--are counter to current trends in the magazine market, across nearly all mature economies," said media analyst Douglas McCabe, who described the figures as "impressive."

Furthermore, the INSP reminded that 10 new titles were added in the last year, allmediascotland.com reported. According to Journalism.co.uk, the network sells homeless the publications for a cost price allowing them to resale them at the cover price and to keep the profit.

Two weeks after The Independent launched its new daily, called "i," media insiders estimate that the newspapers is selling a daily average of 125,000 copies, down from the initial 180,000 copies, MediaGuardian reported.

Although MediaGuardian acknowledged that newspaper's sales "are likely to be volatile until circulation settles," Andrew Mullins, the managing director of the Independent, Independent on Sunday and the London Evening Standard reminded that wholesale numbers do not provide numbers about the number of copies distributed.

"As a result, any numbers being talked about are purely conjecture as they do not know how many copies we have printed and distributed each day. Our numbers will remain confidential for the foreseeable future, but we can say that sales of the Independent at £1 are unaffected," Mullins said.

At £0.20 per copy, i is one of the cheapest newspapers in the UK. However, as a promotional offer, the publisher is giving readers vouchers that would allowed them to get a free copy of the newspaper for a week, paidContent.org revealed. To increase readership, i will soon launch an iPad app for the same price as the print copy.

Even though the leaves are barely changing colour, electronic retailers are looking towards the holiday season for sales. The Wall Street Journal reports that people are more interested in buying tablets and multi-use mobile phones over traditional electronics such as televisions and PCs. For the newspaper industry, this could potentially broaden the market of consumers.

Brain Dunn, chief executive of the electronics store Best Buy, notes that people are becoming more interested in staying connecting regardless of their location. "People are willing to disproportionately spend for these devices because they are becoming so important to their lives," he states. The numbers speak for themselves; Dunn estimates that the introduction of the iPad has chewed into sales of laptop PCs by roughly 50%. Television sales have also dropped off, as people are interesting in buying mobile devices they haven't previously owned rather than upgrade their current entertainment systems.

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