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Apple News+: Is it Worth the $9.99 per Month Subscription Price?

Scottsdale said:
You can get most magazines for $2 to $5 per year. Now, saving paper is worthy but is it worthy of $120 annually?
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Can you please tell me where I can get Make Magazine for $2 to $5 per year? That's one that wasn't available on Texture but is on Apple News+. I've subscribed to it in the past and don't now mainly because it's a very expensive magazine. It's one of my favourite things about News+. I also currently pay a lot more than that for subscriptions to Scientific American and Nuts and Volts, which are not available from discount sources.

These cheap magazines are generally very low quality and the discount prices is little more than a scam to get subscription numbers up to look good for advertisers. If the magazines were worthwhile, they wouldn't be giving them away for $2-5/year.
 
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dumastudetto said:
Yes it's an amazing value. We're getting almost unlimited rich, insightful, inspirational content all at a low monthly price.
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Please stop.
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ipedro said:
There'll always be a way for cheapskates to get something they value without paying anything for it. This may come as a shock but people in general want to pay for things so that the people that create things they value, can continue creating those things.
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A lot of people here only think that way if it’s Apple.
 
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PJL500 said:
If it had NYT and WaPo i'd be in... those along with New Yorker and a few others would be cool. Pass.
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FWIW, it has the New Yorker. Though personally, I wouldn't read that that steaming pile if they paid me. I read it once on Texture, what horrible garbage. But fortunately there's plenty on News+ I do like.
 
iapplelove said:
Agreed, but that iPhone revenue ain’t what it use to be and may not come back seeing as customers do not upgrade as frequently.

Money has to come from somewhere, so they have turned to services.
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Agreed, I think they don’t have that hardware magic that once was present.
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It’s hard to have hardware magic when so much progress has been made in the smart phone market. I think we’Re past peak smart phone in terms of upgrade frequency.

When the iPhone was introduced I upgraded almost every other year for compelling reasons. I hung on to my 6S until the iPhone X came out. Prior to the 6S I upgraded almost every other year. From the original iPhone to the 3GS, I skipped the 4S and got the 5, then upgraded to the 5S for Touch ID and then moved to the 6S.

There was absolutely nothing in the iPhone XS that compelled me to upgrade and based on the rumors out there so far there is nothing in the 2019 iPhone lineup that will compel me to upgrade either.

This one to two year upgrade cycle was never going to last. Smart phones will eventually have the same upgrade cycle as PCs, laptops and tablets. 4 - 5 years. 1 - 2 for maniacs, 3 for enthusiasts, 4 - 5 for the average consumer and 6+ for consumers who are price conscious and can get that number of years out of their device.

Apple has to do something to make up for that lost revenue stream and sticky services that you can only get on iOS and MacOS based devices are the way to do it.

It keeps users on the platform and ensures future upgrades will be to Apple made hardware. I think of Apple Music on Android as an exception to what will be Apple’s rule with services going forward. Apple had to release an Android based Apple Music app and integrate Apple Music into the Windows based version of iTunes in order to close the huge gap that existed between Apple and Spotify since streaming music was clearly the future and digital downloads were on the decline.
 
ColdShadow said:
Reading comments here it’s obvious 99% of people think it’s not worth the price and are not going to pay for it.
:D
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To be fair, most of the negative comments seem to be from people who think they can get the same content and news for free on the web. These are people who probably don't even know how to read a long-form news story. They think they're well informed after reading a 1-parargraph summary that's biased because it's free because it's coming from a source that's paid to influence opinion.

It's true, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it think. And if they believe the paid ad-copy they're reading is news, you're not going to change their minds.
 
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DevNull0 said:
To be fair, most of the negative comments seem to be from people who think they can get the same content and news for free on the web. These are people who probably don't even know how to read a long-form news story. They think they're well informed after reading a 1-parargraph summary that's biased because it's free because it's coming from a source that's paid to influence opinion.

It's true, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it think. And if they believe the paid ad-copy they're reading is news, you're not going to change their minds.
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Or we simply feel News+ is not worth it in its current form. We're allowed to feel that way.

Quit pretending you know what everyone is thinking and feeling. It makes you look silly. ;)
 
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Apple needs to get rid of the entire eye sore that is the varying topic genre list on the left side, and completely replace the entire User Interface to be more like Netflix thumbnails for magazines

Playboy, Hustler, etc. should be included with News+

The iBooks app has a bookshelf for books, Apple could make a bookshelf news stand for News+
 
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FriendlyPanda said:
Or we simply feel News+ is not worth it in its current form. We're allowed to feel that way.
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Certainly, and as a long time Texture customer, I agree News+ has major problems.

But notice that I said "most" and I stand by my comments.

Quit pretending you know what everyone is thinking and feeling. It makes you look silly. ;)
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Quit pretending I said something I didn't.

I don;t know anyone is thinking or feeling, I know what they are posting, and I commented on that.
 
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No in Australia just about every magazine or article says Not available in your region.
Even things like Ars Technica.
Totally ridiculous . Tim Cook should resign Apple has become a giant joke compared to Steve Jobs days.
 
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Too much information really. I got overkilled by information from so many sources that I gave up after a few days and cancelled my free trial subscription. Many articles were redundant and also, the way it's designed, it brings you more and more to read - there is no end to it. It became too much very quickly. There are only 24 hours in a day, and some of it has to be for sleeping.
 
Not good at all. Public library offers thousand more publications through PressReader.
Way too small a library of mags. Too US focused.
What we really need is the same service but for books. All published books, old and new, available now for $9.99 per month. That might work.
 
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MacRumors said:



Apple in late March unveiled its new Apple News+ service, which is designed to let Apple News users access over 200 magazines and some paywalled news content for a $9.99 per month fee.

We've been using Apple News+ over the course of the last week and a half and in our latest YouTube video, we explore whether the service is worth the $9.99 monthly cost.


Apple News+ primarily focuses on magazines, and there are right around 240 to choose from right now. There are major titles like National Geographic and The New Yorker, along with many smaller specialty magazines. The subscription fee also includes access to some paywalled news content from sites like The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, though as we'll explain, there are some caveats.

All the new Apple News+ content is accessible through a new Apple News+ section in the Apple News app, which is displayed regardless of whether you subscribe to Apple News+. Apple News+ features a My Magazines section with content that you're reading along with story and magazine suggestions from Apple News editors.

applenewsplusmymagazines.jpg

The user interface looks simple enough, but there are some quirks that have been confusing new subscribers. There's no clear way to add a new magazine to the My Magazines list, and in fact, you have to search for the title of the magazine in the standard Apple News interface and "favorite" it with a heart to get it to show up reliably in My Magazines or tap the title to get taken to an overview page, neither of which is intuitive.

To further confuse things, some magazines that you've read but haven't favorited will temporarily be displayed in My Magazines, and there are no options anywhere to control what shows up there, nor to customize content recommendations to make them more relevant to one's interests.

applenewsiphonepdf.jpg

When it comes to the magazines themselves, newly released magazine issues from major companies have a digital-focused interface that lets you scroll through a list of stories to get to what you want to read, but for back issues and lesser known magazines, content is presented in a PDF format that's less than ideal.

applenewsmymagazines.jpg

PDFs look all right on iPad, but are difficult to read on iPhone, and the Mac interface for Apple News+ is no better. The single page spread on Mac features small text that's not easy to zoom into, making reading PDF-based magazines on most devices a less than stellar experience.

applenewsmac.jpg

News content is included in Apple News+, but in the case of The Wall Street Journal, there are some limitations. While you can access The Wall Street Journal's full range of content, Apple is only highlighting a selection of general interest news stories, and to find anything else, you have to search. Apple News+ also only retains three days of archived content.

Other major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post have refused to join Apple News+, and it's not clear if these publications will change their position.

Apple News+ is likely to improve in the future with interface updates and as more magazines adopt the customized digital-forward design, but right now, the service feels sloppy, unfinished, and confusing.

It's also not clear if it's something that will interest the general public given the heavy focus on magazines and the lack of subscription-based news that's available. Apple's prior magazine effort, Apple Newsstand, was ultimately unsuccessful. Unlimited access to magazine content might lure more readers, but whether this new venture will succeed remains to be seen.

Apple News+ had more than 200,000 subscribers following its March introduction, but all of those accounts are still on the one-month free trial that's available and are not yet paying customers.

Have you signed up for Apple News+ and do you plan to keep the subscription? Let us know in the comments, and if you have questions about Apple News+, make sure to check out our Apple News+ guide.

Article Link: Apple News+: Is it Worth the $9.99 per Month Subscription Price?
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I signed up for the 30-days trial and then cancel within minutes. The quickest decision I ever made in my lifetime.
 
My opinion is that that people will soon become disenchanted with yet another bundling "service" where you are forced to pay for content you neither like or wish to support as evidenced by the huge number of cable cutters. It seems as if everyone is following the business model of charging subscriptions for their products or services now and it is only a matter of time before people begin rebelling.
As for the bugs and issues noted by many posters here, I am sure Apple will address and eventually fix them but rushing this app into release verifies for me that Apple just doesn't have the quality control that I used to experience with their product lineup. Bottom line is, I will never subscribe to this service mainly because I glanced at the content offerings and did not see a single magazine or newspaper I would be interested in.
Good luck Apple, you're going to need it.
 
ipponrg said:
I didn’t know paid magazines were unbiased.
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That's your takeaway? Of course they're biased, but if you think paid ads and non-free news magazines have the same level of bias, there's not much I can say to you.
 
>but right now, the service feels sloppy, unfinished, and confusing.

This is, what, Apple's third attempt at this? Expect nothing more than the above. They've only had years to consider any of this, but like all dilettantes, they show up only when it interests them.
 
HappyMBAowner said:
Too much information really. I got overkilled by information from so many sources that I gave up after a few days and cancelled my free trial subscription. Many articles were redundant and also, the way it's designed, it brings you more and more to read - there is no end to it. It became too much very quickly. There are only 24 hours in a day, and some of it has to be for sleeping.
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The Texture service Apple bought out to create this was a nice simply reader that would let you choose what magazines you like, download to your device and read them as a magazine. It was clean and easy to use. It just worked.

I don't understand the way Apple wants to pull bits and pieces from everywhere and juggle it up until you don't know where it came from. That's why I hate the new Apple TV app. I want to be very aware of which service each show I watch comes from. That way if I'm not using a service I can cancel it. Apple's way, you may go months without using a service you're paying for and not even know it.

I'd rather read a magazine I like. Not bits and pieces pulled from dozens of magazines according to Apple's guesses about what I'd like.
 
Cosmosent said:
NO, it's NOT !

I expect the price to go down by 50% to $4.99/month by the end of the year.

At that point, it could take off, but NOT before.
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Yeeesh..... $5/month for access to 300+ sources? Not a sustainable business model. Personally I don’t think the pricing is an issue. I think the catalog of information is easily worth the $10/month (however a $100/year would be a nice option too). The issue is the huge clusterf*** which is the news app. I don’t think there’s a single person who’s impressed with the way it works, which is why I haven’t started my free trial. I’m really hoping for a huge overhaul for iOS 13. Then maybe I’d give it a shot
 
I feel that Apple’s news service is catered to the mass market (or the “filthy” casuals, as some might term them), and as such stands a pretty good chance of success.

These are your people who are unlikely to subscribe to any publication in the first place. They might enjoy reading an article from a magazine or newspaper here or there, but are not going to read them from cover to cover, much less do so consistently on a weekly basis.

Apple News allows them to this for a flat monthly fee rather than having to subscribe to a variety of publications individually.

I don’t think there is going to any cannibalisation with publishers’ existing subscriber base. It’s going to be more successful over time, and I believe we will eventually seen initial holdouts like WaPo sign on (and likely sooner than later).

Because, why not?
 
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