Clearly “a flop”.
Yep, hundreds of millions of users and only 200,000 engage with something that's currently free
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Over 200,000 People Subscribed to Apple News+ in First 48 Hours After Launch
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Yep, hundreds of millions of users and only 200,000 engage with something that's currently free
for real magazine reader, like my parents, the paper style has better experience;
for me, born as IT / digital generation, free news is good enough (I read the News everyday, $10 for the magazine? no, I'd rather to have some coffee or juice)
for me, born as IT / digital generation, free news is good enough (I read the News everyday, $10 for the magazine? no, I'd rather to have some coffee or juice
)
Actually, the internet did that a long time ago. Why should I pay full price for what is essentially a collection of different articles stapled together, when I don’t even know if I am going to enjoy reading each and every one?
It’s the same with physical newspapers. The sports section comes bundled, regardless of whether I am interested in it or not.
For the simple reason that I am not the target customer. The real customer for newspaper companies are the advertisers, while we readers are the product being sold. That’s why newspapers come with such a wide selection of news - to appeal to as broad a reader base as possible.
I very much prefer the current model where I get to pick and choose which articles I want to read, and the publisher earns accordingly. Write the articles I want to read, and I will read them, and vice versa.
And I can think of no better company to do this than one who controls their own platform and has aggregated the best customers which it can leverage on.
200.000 subscriptions is 2 million dolars per month, and if apple gets 50% cut, that is 12 million dollars per year. Not sufficient even to cover the salaries of all Apple employees dedicated to support the app, finance, legal, HR, content update and so forth. Could it get 1 milion subscribers by the end of the year? Probably. This would be then 60 millions of revenue which is still less than 0.1% of the revenue generated from the iPhone. If Apple wants to diversify its revenue in order to not be dependent so much on the iPhone, it should invest more heavily in markets outside US and offer more innovative global service. For example, Germany has 80 million population and could not care less about Apple News+. France has 67 million population and also could not care less about Apple News+. There should have been local bundles of newspapers and magazines for all big markets, including all G20 countries on Day 1. Apple should understand that they are global company, not a US company anymore, so realeasing products and services for US market alone has not sense.
Well obviously there is the free trial but I’m sure texture had free trials too and Apple surpassed textures numbers by a comfortable margin so these numbers are impressive. Even if 50 % of people cancel after the trial period 100,000 subscribers to a dying format is very impressive. Apple May well bring new life into this market.
I don't really have an opinion on whether these are good numbers or not. But is this really bringing more people into the market? Or is it people already in the market consolidating and reducing their costs?
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Yes. My hope of Apple breaking into publishing and TV services (and also their credit card) was that they'd change the way the business operates to simply the industries for the modern, global, internet-based economy.
Inside they just signed up with the existing players to just act as yet another middleman.
Apple are effectively just the PR front for the likes of Goldman Sachs. Sad.
It's fairly useless for diabetics too as penicillin doesn't treat diabetes, insulin does.
I’d argue that a good percentage of people have multiple iOS devices. I have 3 iPhones and 1 iPad. And I’m not even an Apple fanatic.
Clearly “a flop”.
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While it lacks the kind of polish I’d expect from Apple, the value is undeniable and it’s already become a part of my routine. Rather than browse for news on multiple sites, I pull up Apple News periodically and see what’s new from all my favourite sources in that one spot. The notifications on my Apple Watch are pretty great too.
I’ve also spent a lot time browsing through magazines like I would a paper mag, page by page, appreciating the graphic layout and even the ads (magazine advertising is truly an art form). I really think that Apple has a chance to revolutionize how we consume digital “print” publishing.
The app needs some work, however. Apple News+ feels bolted on, disconnected from the rest of the app. Certain important features are missing like saving a magazine article to read later like can be done in articles elsewhere in the app. There are also a bunch of bugs with downloaded magazines disappearing and not showing in “My Magazines” unless I actually start reading it.
I don't want to be too skeptical. But the same happened to the Apple Homepod. A lot of "hardcore" fans pre-ordered the Homepod. When that wave passed, the sales plummeted because normal consumers weren't that interested. So just be cautious to say it's "clearly a flop".
My sources say you should stay off the internet if you are irked by internet trolls and consider “off the record” sources as valid sources. You are the epitome of gullible.
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I think the lure of the service is that these publications share the pie of potentially attracting all of Apple’s customers.
Just like you mentioned... for major news outlets that make decent money on subscriptions, it’s in their best interest to be skeptical when they only receive a fraction of the 50%.
Magazines on the other hand are usually outdated by the time they are released. You can find free competitive online sources easily, so it makes sense why they are part of this.
But it only came out last week. They are all within their free trial period.People subscribed for free trial and forgot to cancel for couple months. It works most of the time.
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The HomePod is estimated to have sold 2 million units with a limited launch in only a few countries. I wouldn’t call that a flop. It’s only been out a year. Everyone called the Apple Watch a flop when it first came out too.
I can do math.
It’s 1 service and 2 days and it’s not even available for everyone. People said the Watch and iPhone were flops too.
I like how you just spoke for 150M people in Germany and France as if you know something.
Hate on.
200,000 in 48 hours is not a benchmark to use for a yearly / quarterly cost analysis.
It's only been a week, so I'm going to reserve judgement. I'm one of the 200,000 who are taking advantage of the free 30 day trial.
Overall, I like the service thus far. I haven't read magazines in awhile, but I'm getting re-acclimated with Apple News+. I still would like to see some improvements within the app (an easy way to find "your magazines," notifications when new issues of "your magazines" are released).
I'm a week in to my trial and I have enjoyed the content thus far. Still a bit early for me to decide if I'm going to continue subscribing after the trial is over.
Overall, I like the service thus far. I haven't read magazines in awhile, but I'm getting re-acclimated with Apple News+. I still would like to see some improvements within the app (an easy way to find "your magazines," notifications when new issues of "your magazines" are released).
I'm a week in to my trial and I have enjoyed the content thus far. Still a bit early for me to decide if I'm going to continue subscribing after the trial is over.
what “actual data”? here are the facts : the 200,000 subscribers mentioned in article are all free trial subscribers.
There is no relevancy between the number of people who accept something for free and people who are actually willing to pay for it.
that being said I can’t claim with confidence that it will be a flop,but from feedbacks I read already, majority of people think it’s not worth the price.so..
My 2c on News+.
Background
I am a huge news reader - 99% of it in paid, paper form. This morning - like virtually any other morning - the paper edition of the WSJ, Financial Times, and USA Today were delivered to my house. I am also a magazine and quarterly subscriber (Foreign Affairs, National Affairs, NatGeo, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Highways, National Review, New Yorker, City Magazine, Governing, Government Technology, among others). In other words, I am glad to pay for [more or less] good news services with in-depth analysis. I rarely read on-line clickbaity news (and since I've stopped reading online news my stress levels diminished quite a bit, while being more informed than 99% of the people I talk to).
It is only obvious that I was very happy when I read about News+.
Content impressions
Negative. Although I have to admit that there is some good content like the New Yorker, News+ lacks daily and quarterly content. The WSJ is not a replica, it's just what the editors select for us mere mortals. There is basically no other daily paper worth of mention. Also, there is no good quarterly publication, such as Foreign Affairs. Points for The Atlantic, but it's definitely not enough. The service also misses some geeky publications such as "Asimov's Science Fiction", "Analog", "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine", "Hitchcock Mystery Magazine", "American Short Stories", "Poetry". Now, it's not that I truly expect those publications on a News service, but it would've been a great touch.
User Friendliness
I have no idea what Apple had in mind, but the interface is my nightmare. I might do something wrong but it appears to me that I can't "subscribe" to a magazine unless I go search for it in the general search bar - which is confusing in itself. I don't want to scroll among all magazines to find what I need every single time. I want my 10 magazines in a Favorites list. At the same time, I want to be able to easily filter by "New" and do a "Select all as read/not new" so that next time it's easy to spot what has been added.
One serious miss is the fact that a "read article later" option is not available. I do it with paper magazines (I just keep the articles I want to read later, and put them in a folder), I don't see any reason why I can't do that with a digital format!
Price
The price is competitive, but am I willing to pay for it? I am still not sure, I spend enough dollars on news services every month so price is not the real problem. My problem is lack of content and the fact that usability features are seriously lacking. I'll wait until the end of the free trial, but I don't see myself keeping the subscription. Hopefully the next iOS will bring new features.
Background
I am a huge news reader - 99% of it in paid, paper form. This morning - like virtually any other morning - the paper edition of the WSJ, Financial Times, and USA Today were delivered to my house. I am also a magazine and quarterly subscriber (Foreign Affairs, National Affairs, NatGeo, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Highways, National Review, New Yorker, City Magazine, Governing, Government Technology, among others). In other words, I am glad to pay for [more or less] good news services with in-depth analysis. I rarely read on-line clickbaity news (and since I've stopped reading online news my stress levels diminished quite a bit, while being more informed than 99% of the people I talk to).
It is only obvious that I was very happy when I read about News+.
Content impressions
Negative. Although I have to admit that there is some good content like the New Yorker, News+ lacks daily and quarterly content. The WSJ is not a replica, it's just what the editors select for us mere mortals. There is basically no other daily paper worth of mention. Also, there is no good quarterly publication, such as Foreign Affairs. Points for The Atlantic, but it's definitely not enough. The service also misses some geeky publications such as "Asimov's Science Fiction", "Analog", "Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine", "Hitchcock Mystery Magazine", "American Short Stories", "Poetry". Now, it's not that I truly expect those publications on a News service, but it would've been a great touch.
User Friendliness
I have no idea what Apple had in mind, but the interface is my nightmare. I might do something wrong but it appears to me that I can't "subscribe" to a magazine unless I go search for it in the general search bar - which is confusing in itself. I don't want to scroll among all magazines to find what I need every single time. I want my 10 magazines in a Favorites list. At the same time, I want to be able to easily filter by "New" and do a "Select all as read/not new" so that next time it's easy to spot what has been added.
One serious miss is the fact that a "read article later" option is not available. I do it with paper magazines (I just keep the articles I want to read later, and put them in a folder), I don't see any reason why I can't do that with a digital format!
Price
The price is competitive, but am I willing to pay for it? I am still not sure, I spend enough dollars on news services every month so price is not the real problem. My problem is lack of content and the fact that usability features are seriously lacking. I'll wait until the end of the free trial, but I don't see myself keeping the subscription. Hopefully the next iOS will bring new features.
Some people here fail to recognize a few things. The NYT wouldn't just get 50% of $9.99. In fact, they would have no guaranteed amount.
The $5 that goes to publishers gets divided up by what the user reads most. So not only would a $15/month customer turn into a max $5/month customer, but if that customer just starts reading a bunch of other stuff because they're bored or something, that $5 begins to shrink.
Imagine a NYT reader starts reading a lot of Nat Geo or Home Designs in their free time. They may have wanted the NYT for mainly a handful of articles that they read each day, but they may find themselves just browsing lots of "picture" books simply because they're bored and it's right in front of them for free. Now that $5 just got eaten into by Nat Geo even though the subscriber wouldn't have normally weighed spending money/time on Nat Geo vs NYT.
Apple News+ simply doesn't make sense for already popular publications with large subscriber bases.
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Wrong. The money NYT actually gets depends on what the users read. If those 10 million subscribers start reading a bunch of other free stuff suddenly, that $5 cut goes way way down. You're making a very bad assumption that NYT readers would only read the NYT and absolutely nothing else.
The $5 that goes to publishers gets divided up by what the user reads most. So not only would a $15/month customer turn into a max $5/month customer, but if that customer just starts reading a bunch of other stuff because they're bored or something, that $5 begins to shrink.
Imagine a NYT reader starts reading a lot of Nat Geo or Home Designs in their free time. They may have wanted the NYT for mainly a handful of articles that they read each day, but they may find themselves just browsing lots of "picture" books simply because they're bored and it's right in front of them for free. Now that $5 just got eaten into by Nat Geo even though the subscriber wouldn't have normally weighed spending money/time on Nat Geo vs NYT.
Apple News+ simply doesn't make sense for already popular publications with large subscriber bases.
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Wrong. The money NYT actually gets depends on what the users read. If those 10 million subscribers start reading a bunch of other free stuff suddenly, that $5 cut goes way way down. You're making a very bad assumption that NYT readers would only read the NYT and absolutely nothing else.
Twenty years ago this would have been valuable? How is $9.99 a month for the amount of content provided a “big flop”? This statement—and those that also parrot it—speaks more to a culture that doesn’t read, can’t read or simply won’t read. The New Yorker is $7.99 a week at the newsstand. It’s also not a cheap subscription. And since I read the New Yorker, that magazine alone makes the $9.99 per month for Apple News worth it.
I subscribe digitally to the NYT as well, and if it was somehow accessible through Apple News the way it is through their app, I don’t know why I’d continue my subscription with them, so on that specific situation it makes sense what the NYT did. But, though I have subscribed to the WSJ in the past, and I’m interested in reading their content, the way it’s set up in Apple News is so spotty and convoluted that if I had a WSJ subscription I wouldn’t dare cancel it.
It almost seems a bit disingenuous to market Apple News as fully delivering the WSJ, because to actually access the WSJ would be so painful as to be not worth the time to barely anyone.
Well, I guess have fun reading articles that are designed to get clicks more than present information objectively. Paid news lowers pressure to sell more ads, which implies less skewed and inflammatory journalism