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Apple Expected to Launch Subscription News Service Within Next Year Following Texture Acquisition
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Apple News is a quiet hit for Apple that has escaped most pundits. It has been growing very quickly, around 40 million monthly active users in 2015 to over 70 million in 2016 to probably well over a hundred million now.
Biggest challenge is still curation aspect of it as Apple struggles to avoid putting it's political bias into featured news, etc. In earlier version, you could simply mute a news channel that you didn't want to appear by swiping left or swiping right to indicate you liked it. Now it's much more difficult to do so, and you can't do it for most channels, only some, and the rest you are left with indicating if you liked or disliked an article.
Second challenge is another not well known aspect of Apple News--they disable ad blockers and trackers from working with any source you access through Apple News. I know they are trying to get ad funds to folks, but this is hypocritical in Apple not allowing ad blockers on its own news feed. I've written Tim Cook and urge others to do so. Answer is, I hope, that Apple will take Texture model and integrate it into an ad and tracker free, completely user controllable, monthly service where the content contributors all get a cut of the subscriber payments to offset ad loss. The iPad is the best device to take advantage of the fantastic tech that can be put into great magazine and news articles.
Biggest challenge is still curation aspect of it as Apple struggles to avoid putting it's political bias into featured news, etc. In earlier version, you could simply mute a news channel that you didn't want to appear by swiping left or swiping right to indicate you liked it. Now it's much more difficult to do so, and you can't do it for most channels, only some, and the rest you are left with indicating if you liked or disliked an article.
Second challenge is another not well known aspect of Apple News--they disable ad blockers and trackers from working with any source you access through Apple News. I know they are trying to get ad funds to folks, but this is hypocritical in Apple not allowing ad blockers on its own news feed. I've written Tim Cook and urge others to do so. Answer is, I hope, that Apple will take Texture model and integrate it into an ad and tracker free, completely user controllable, monthly service where the content contributors all get a cut of the subscriber payments to offset ad loss. The iPad is the best device to take advantage of the fantastic tech that can be put into great magazine and news articles.
Because news is free elsewhere. Lots of elsewheres. All over the world. All the time. For everyone.
That's a "no brainer".
I'd be interested in this for solid content, but I'm not seeing any. When the weightiest publication is Businessweek, which is terrible, it's a hard pass. ESPN magazine and Shape and the like are low-content junk they peddle to you when your hotel points are expiring
I think there might be some enthusiasm about a subscription that includes legit periodicals (WSJ, Economist, etc.) but I imagine it's a pretty small target and it would probably drive up the costs too much
I think there might be some enthusiasm about a subscription that includes legit periodicals (WSJ, Economist, etc.) but I imagine it's a pretty small target and it would probably drive up the costs too much
Apple plans to offer a subscription-based news service within the next year, according to Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg News. Apple declined to comment on the report, as it has not announced the plans publicly.
The service is said to be based on subscription-based digital magazine app Texture, which is expected to be integrated into the Apple News app on iPhone and iPad, pending approval of Apple's agreement to acquire the company.
Texture provides unlimited access to over 200 digital magazines for $9.99 per month. Available magazine titles include People, Vogue, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Maxim, Men's Health, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN The Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly.
"We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users," said Apple's services chief Eddy Cue, on Apple acquiring Texture.
The service would essentially be like Apple Music, which provides unlimited streaming of over 45 million songs for $9.99 per month, but for news and magazines. The revenue would help boost Apple's growing services division, including the App Store and iCloud, while a cut would also go to publishers.
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.
Apple previously offered a Newsstand app with digital magazines and newspapers, but subscriptions were only available on a title-by-title basis.
Article Link: Apple Expected to Launch Subscription News Service Within Next Year Following Texture Acquisition
Do you know if Apple will end up getting rid of Texture when there new service is up and running because my family and I really like Texture and don't want it to go away
Agreed. Perhaps they could offer an option that includes WSJ, Atlantic, Economist and other publications that offer serious, in-depth analysis for those that are interested. I think there might be a market, since individual subscriptions for this category of publication are pricey. If you only have time to fully read articles that are of interest to you, it would be nice to have one reasonably priced subscription to 3,4,5 publications in aggregate for the more casual reader.
The problem is the cost for an ad free option would be so high that many could not afford it. Those that offer it, such as CBS can do so because the majority of the costs are borne by ad supported medium.
I don't think their business model is outdated. In fact it's not much different than a typical web publisher's. Both are ad supported. The difference is that print magazines have distribution costs that are much higher than web.
Print magazines and newspapers will continue to exist for the same reason that print books survived. They offer a reprieve from our constant relationship with screens. Your print magazine isn't going to distract you with an incoming text message.
Investors. Whatever has the potential to make you perpetually part with your money makes them salivate.
NY Times said print will die in 10 years. Apple is getting a head start on something.
Provided you got it. It hasn’t even rolled out across the EU and they’re considering a “premium” service now. Ugh, get the basics right first, Apple.
I don’t mind good advertisements in moderation. Advertising is an art but many of them omit that. GQ magazine for example has some great print ads that I appreciate just as much as the content. I wouldn’t want them gone. But ads that overwhelm the content or that are just cheap attempts at stealing a moment of your attention without adding anything to your life can go extinct for all I care. Paying for content directly through a subscription helps kill those cheap low quality ads.
Damn you don’t even have the news app? I thought it was universal. News is news.
I hate and despise ads. They are a waste of what little life I have left. Google's text ads were bearable but most site's ads make it impossible to read text. Safari's reader mode is amazing. It is just a knife in my back when I pay for something and STILL GET ADS.
I quit paying for Direct TV in 2012. Some stations had ads every 5 minutes. Why in the hell was I paying $160/mo for this? Now, 6 years later with Netflix, Amazon Prime, buying content on Apple TV, I can't imagine wasting my life watching ads ever again. Youtube Red FTW! I can't stand ads.
I have no problem paying for what I use. People who work hard deserve to be paid for their work. But ads are required even if you pay for most things today.
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"The revenue would help boost Apple's growing services division, including the App Store and iCloud, while a cut would also go to publishers."
shouldn't it be the other way around though?
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It's double though, since those subscriptions all work towards ensuring that your next device is also an device. Working to get people to buy into their services "binds" them into their ecosystem.
shouldn't it be the other way around though?
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It's double though, since those subscriptions all work towards ensuring that your next device is also an device. Working to get people to buy into their services "binds" them into their ecosystem.
It’s pathetic what passes as journalism. You can tell by their writing that the majority of web “reporters” are armchair bloggers who regurgitate each others opinions and gossip without investigating a subject personally and formally.
And the casual interest articles are no better. You see articles exploring or promoting premises that were put to rest by earlier generations.
The news may not be intentionally fake, but the effort and quality is.
Oh please no. I only need iCloud storage and would never pay for music streaming.
This already exists. Check out Readly. Costs me £7.99 a month and I can read as many magazines as I like and have up 5 profiles per account so the whole family uses it. I’m a big fan. I’d stopped buying magazines as the cost was too high and some magazines are only worth dipping into rather than spending £4.99. Check it out https://get.readly.com/WpGn1KfPBSlzARiZ
[doublepost=1524002615][/doublepost]Most of these magazines are available at your local library via an online app for free.
Apple plans to offer a subscription-based news service within the next year, according to Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg News. Apple declined to comment on the report, as it has not announced the plans publicly.
The service is said to be based on subscription-based digital magazine app Texture, which is expected to be integrated into the Apple News app on iPhone and iPad, pending approval of Apple's agreement to acquire the company.
Texture provides unlimited access to over 200 digital magazines for $9.99 per month. Available magazine titles include People, Vogue, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Maxim, Men's Health, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN The Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly.
"We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users," said Apple's services chief Eddy Cue, on Apple acquiring Texture.
The service would essentially be like Apple Music, which provides unlimited streaming of over 45 million songs for $9.99 per month, but for news and magazines. The revenue would help boost Apple's growing services division, including the App Store and iCloud, while a cut would also go to publishers.
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.
Apple previously offered a Newsstand app with digital magazines and newspapers, but subscriptions were only available on a title-by-title basis.
Article Link: Apple Expected to Launch Subscription News Service Within Next Year Following Texture Acquisition
I'm totally with you, and have thought for years there should be a newspaper equivalent to 'Spotify', 'Pandora', Apple Music, etc. I currently pay subscriptions to a couple big-name newspapers, but none are actually LOCAL for me (I live in the sticks), and I really just want to read national / international articles, and ideally the same topic from a couple different points of view to try and break up the 'echo chamber'. It ends up being *just* more than what is usually allowed per month by typical 'paywall' limits (10 articles per month?), but is hardly enough to justify a full subscription to multiple papers - particularly when a significant portion of each is dedicated to 'local' news, happenings, entertainment, 'society' etc that has zero relevance to me, as I'm not local. I'd be perfectly willing to pay $10-$20/mo to have access to 50 top papers, and know that a fraction of that payment went to each paper / journalist whose articles I read, just as now I can listen to my choice of top musicians and have a part of my music subscription go to support the artists I listen to, without having to sign up for a separate subscription to each music label.
Can't say I'd be as interested in subscription access to magazines.
If your argument is that you can't sell news, or a service that's paid can't compete with one that's free, I think you may want to step outside of your bubble and see that the audience of existing paying news subscribers are in the millions. High quality content comes at a premium and this two tiered model exists in many industries.
Not only that - but this is a service offering more than just news. It offers a form of quality digital content you can read across many spectrums. Entertainment. Platform consistency.
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at least they are trying... once again to get whatever it is they think is right. matters not what we think. wait, it must! they know they've had fail on fail so try try again. we'll see