Apple Expected to Launch Subscription News Service Within Next Year Following Texture Acquisition

[pika2000]

I don't know. The unlimited access subscription model might be enticing, but to be honest, this feels a bit too late. I mean I don't even remember the last time I read a magazine. For news, we are already enjoying them piece-meal thanks to the internet. Plus nowadays, many magazines have editorial as good as some random blogger on the internet, ie. crap. Just look at tech magazines. I get more updated and useful content from youtubers like mkbhd than magazines.

There are few genres that still fit the magazine style like fashion, but then again those genres tend to be served better through the physical magazines, not digital.

 

[RogerWilco]

Perhaps it's just me, and perhaps I'm out of touch, and perhaps I'm totally wrong.
but does this not have "Fail" written all over it ?

Oh ye of little faith -- this is Apple, and you will subscribe to the pure, curated, unbiased truthiness emanating from the news app on the wondrous device that graces your otherwise lowly existence.

 

[pika2000]

On the other hand they typically make about 30% margin on these services after paying licensing, since they're basically the "retailers" selling someone else's content.

If they sell me a $2000 MBP at a 50% margin, they make $1000 profit from me. If they sell me 3 services at $10/month each, they make $9/month from me and I have to remain subscribed for 1000/9 / 12 = 9.25 years before Apple makes the same profit. And that ignores that with the MBP sale they get the entire $1000 up front and over 9 years I'm going to buy more than one MBP. I currently still have a 2009 and 2012 Mac Mini. Based on my purchase history of minis. Apple has lost 2 mini sales to me so far by not updating the product. Even if I go all in on their services, they will never make as much from me in services as they have lost in hardware.

Apple is much better off focusing on making a decent MBP rather than dividing all their efforts on services that don't make them a whole lot of money compared to hardware.

Same logic works for the iPhones Apple is letting stagnate while Google/Samsung lap them. There is very little difference between an iPhone 8 and iPhone 6s. Camera improvements and a faster CPU only go so far at improving the user experience. They're blowing potential upgrade customers, and they're not going to make it up on magazine subscriptions.

Just because Apple is doing this, doesn't mean they're ignoring their main cash cows (devices). Services like this are just extra revenue from existing users, so you can give Apple more money after that initial $1000 from the Macbook Pro, instead of not getting anything from you until you decide to buy a new Macbook Pro.

Traditional revenue: $1k every 5 years, and nothing in between
What Apple wants: $1k every 5 years + $9 per month for as long as you are an Apple customer
The second model also locks customers further into the Apple ecosystem, making sure that they are less likely to leave (and thus increasing the likelihood you will be giving them another $1k in 5 years).

 

[Xenomorph]

A new News service? They can call it Newsstand, and give it its own folder!

 

[tkukoc]

Unless this is like 20.00 or less for an entire year, I can't see me buying into something like this. Plenty of places online to read for free, most are the original publishers websites.

 

[citysnaps]

Perhaps it's just me, and perhaps I'm out of touch, and perhaps I'm totally wrong.
but does this not have "Fail" written all over it ?

No. Not all all. Many people, including myself, prefer reading magazines electronically.

 

[rmoliv]

Please. Expand. News. To. Other. Countries.

Seriously, didn't News.app launch with iOS 9? They're able to push so quickly with some things (hardware, carriers, Music) to hundreds of countries but News seems stuck in just a few locales. Heck, even Pay is available in more places.

Customers outside the US, UK and Australia are (too) often overlooked. The HomePod being one of the latest examples of it.

 

[ipponrg]

No. Not all all. Many people, including myself, prefer reading magazines electronically.

I love reading non time sensitive magazines when I was a kid. I haven't opened one in a while though.

Much of this has been replaced by RSS feeds in Feedly.

I think this is targeting a very niche population, and it's an easy win for Apple for only that target demographic.

 

[dannyyankou]

Yikes, are they going to make the apple news app pay only? I love that thing. It’s how I read MacRumors.

That's not what the article says...

The premium tier would likely complement the existing ad-supported content available within the Apple News app, which is currently available in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom on iOS 9 and later.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I used to read magazines a lot when I was a child... Ranger Rick, National Geographic, countless others I've forgotten... I'd beg neighbors for newspapers and even got a print WSJ subscription for free from a kind soul. Loved to read as a kid.

Now days? I can't stand spending $ on the <bleep> that most magazines print. The advertisements for even paying customers is beyond insane. Over the last 20 years I've got to see the quality degrade and the advertisements and paid "try this new product!" crap increase. I can't stand newspapers either.

Maybe I'm getting old and grouchy in my 30s but... I find a lot more fun in buying a book and reading it. No subscriptions, no advertisements, ahhhhhh. I try to read 5-8 books a year and wish I could read more. Every now and then I'll pick up a magazine, cringe at the $3.99 cost, and then remember why I don't spend $ on this crap anymore.

I've got a pile of 40+ books at home I intend to read but have less and less time to actually read. Ending all my subscriptions has saved over $500/year (Economist/WSJ being heavy hitters). I read less but a good friend gives me his old Economist magazines a few times a year so...

Can't imagine paying $9/mo for yet ANOTHER subscription service. Not for me I guess.

 

[gugy]

Man, this subscription model is just getting out of hand. I try to minimize as much as I can having media subscriptions. It’s just ridiculous on top of all the bills an individual can normally have.

Here it’s a hint Apple. Come up with a single service subscription that encompasses iCloud storage, music, movies, news, etc.
Simplify and give a Big Bang for your buck and I think many people would jump in. Breaking it all apart and having too many subscriptions = failure IMO.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I don't know. The unlimited access subscription model might be enticing, but to be honest, this feels a bit too late. I mean I don't even remember the last time I read a magazine. For news, we are already enjoying them piece-meal thanks to the internet. Plus nowadays, many magazines have editorial as good as some random blogger on the internet, ie. crap. Just look at tech magazines. I get more updated and useful content from youtubers like mkbhd than magazines.

There are few genres that still fit the magazine style like fashion, but then again those genres tend to be served better through the physical magazines, not digital.

I subscribed to Texture for a while because the magazines look fantastic on the iPad. However, I got bored with reading magazines. Scribd works better for me. They have books, magazines, documents and I think it is like 8.99 a month. Cheaper than what I paid for Texture. They had a 9.99 and a 15.99 plan if I remember correctly. Some magazines weren't available unless you paid the premium price. As you mentioned, just getting magazines wasn't worth the monthly subscription because so much information is on the internet and instead of reading what you are fed, you can track down stuff you are interested in with a few search terms.

I don't know what Apple paid for Texture, but I do think they are just looking for more things to expand the ecosystem and make it harder to leave.

 

[picciano]

Print magazines' last gasp for air...

 

[pika2000]

Customers outside the US, UK and Australia are (too) often overlooked. The HomePod being one of the latest examples of it.

Well, many countries have more complex regulations, and also more diverse population (thus increasing the complexity in language/content to support).
Eg. US is a large market, and you can do things simply in English (or maybe with Spanish).
Compared that to, let's say, Singapore, where the market is tiny, yet you have to support things in at least 4 languages (English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil). Plus there's censorship compliance. Not as easy.
Similarly in many European countries I assume. Smaller market, more complex (thus higher cost).

 

[pat500000]

Subscriptions? Pass. News? Fake news

 

[doomfront]

I'm all for this, I love magazines but hate how I hoard them. Just recently I threw out 50+ magazines from Arch Digest and Vogue. In the process of converting my print subscriptions to digital. With this service I could get access to my current subscriptions and even more. Going to keep my eye on this

 

[rafark]

I’m quite partial to a “beautifully designed story”, ideally one with rounded corners, edge to edge text and with the typeface in rose gold.

And a notch

 

[neutralguy]

They have 123k people working for them. Surely they can do all three at the same time.

Apparently not.. looking at the magical pipeline mirage that Tim has been talking about for past couple of years or the bugs that have plagued ios11 or the half baked HomePod.. the list goes on. Makes me wonder what those 123k people are working on.

 

[Dranix]

What's with all this subscription **** happing? I don't want subscriptions. Who in his right mind would like such stuff?

 

[ipedro]

This is a great way to monetize “print” in the internet era. Paywalls for individual newspapers have limited potential with only a portion of frequent readers wiling to pay for regular access. Casual readers won’t bother. Having a single subscription and paying out to publications as they’re read is a better model. Currently, advertising is the only monetization model that works and it’s not one that’s ideal for the consumer.

 

[ipedro]

What's with all this subscription **** happing? I don't want subscriptions. Who in his right mind would like such stuff?

You don’t like paying for stuff? Do you work for free? There’s always ad supported model but then don’t block the ads because publications can’t survive if they’re not paid.

I’m happy to support the continued production of good content. A subscription that dynamically rewards the publications that I read is far better than subscribing to individual publications that I may or may not read regularly.

 

[jlc1978]

If it works like they describe here, then probably, yes. I’m an avid reader and love Apples News app. But given most magazine subscriptions only cost $10 to $15 a year, I would have to regularly subscribe, or want to subscribe, to more than 12 magazines a year to get value from this plan. Right now my wife and I subscribe to four magazines (Nat Geo, Smithsonian, Discover, and Wired) and that is probably way more than most people and we barely have time to keep up with those.

Not only that, but my local library has a free app the allows you to download number of popular titles. It's more limited than the paid apps but all you need is a library card; with that I get my weekly Economist fix.

 

[Dranix]

You don’t like paying for stuff? Do you work for free? There’s always ad supported model but then don’t block the ads because publications can’t survive if they’re not paid.

No I don't like subscriptions. I pay for what I use not to be able to use something, maybe.

 

[BigMcGuire]

This is a great way to monetize “print” in the internet era. Paywalls for individual newspapers have limited potential with only a portion of frequent readers wiling to pay for regular access. Casual readers won’t bother. Having a single subscription and paying out to publications as they’re read is a better model. Currently, advertising is the only monetization model that works and it’s not one that’s ideal for the consumer.

Craploads of advertisement made me quit TV, magazines, newspapers, etc... I cannot stand ads. If I'm paying for something there better not be ads! I realize maximizing profits is great but I'd rather pay more for no ads or not at all.

 

[Defthand]

I don't see this as a value deal. It's equivalent to cable tv packages. Unless you enjoy the trashier titles which are predominately advertisements, it's cheaper to get individual subscriptions to the few titles you'll read regularly. Magazine publishers routinely offer print w/digital subs for 60% off. When you cancel after the offer, they typically repeat it. Again. magazines are mostly a vehicle for advertisements. Look at Oprah's O. It qualifies as junk mail.