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cmaier

Suspended
Jul 25, 2007
25,405
33,471
California
Has anyone else noticed a dramatic change in the way plain old Apple News works since the debut of News+? Prior to the introduction of News+, the headine items in the Today and Digest sections seemed to be, well, mostly real news. Now it's all Kardashians and Game of Thrones. If I were relying on Apple News to be informed, I'd never have known Notre Dame caught on fire today.
I am not seeing that. Perhaps there’s something about you that suggests to the AI that you’re a big Kardashians/Game of Thrones person?
 

sog1927

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2016
95
160
I am not seeing that. Perhaps there’s something about you that suggests to the AI that you’re a big Kardashians/Game of Thrones person?

It's really bizarre - most of my feed went from CNN and Politico to People and Mashable overnight. I'm really not sure what persuaded the algo that I'm back in high school.
 
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jonnyb098

macrumors 68040
Nov 16, 2010
3,970
5,332
Michigan
If you count millions of free accounts given to Verizon customers as "subscribers"
Nice try but they overtook Spotify in PAID subscribers. Not freebies.
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I am not seeing that. Perhaps there’s something about you that suggests to the AI that you’re a big Kardashians/Game of Thrones person?
I don’t like how they put news+ articles mixed into my normal feed. I don’t subscribe. I should net been seeing news+ garbage.
 
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mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,792
1,914
Pacific Northwest
I'm seeing a lot of freeloading commentators complaining about no free samples or that they've got a dirt cheap subscription to one magazine. You folks have no clue the largest user base of magazine subscriptions. Here's a clue, it's not you. It is universities, large corporations, small businesses, etc.

Go to a salon and see those 50 magazines sprawled out on the table to pacify those waiting to get their hair done. Go into an IT business, sit down, sip on free lattes, bagels and scan through a dozen or more subscriptions curtailed to those waiting.

Well, most people now sit on their phones and don't pick them up anymore.

Apple is offering a solution to these traditional publication houses À la carte to be on everyone's smartphone for $9.99/month.

I expect Apple to extend these News+ options to businesses who will pay a premium to have their staff get access to News+ as a work perk.

Anyone who reads magazines --plural--not just skimming a few articles online for free, but have 3, 4, 5 or more yearly subscriptions will jump on News+ and laugh at how much more money they are saving.

For freeloaders you'll whine about everything.
[doublepost=1555377189][/doublepost]
Nice try but they overtook Spotify in PAID subscribers. Not freebies.
[doublepost=1555376827][/doublepost]
I don’t like how they put news+ articles mixed into my normal feed. I don’t subscribe. I should net been seeing news+ garbage.

You're not paying for it, period. Stop complaining.
 
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mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,792
1,914
Pacific Northwest
1) Taking 50% is terrible business. The mafia didn't even take that much.

2) There is a market for people who want non-politically biased reporting, analysis and features, but don't want to pay the premiums major newspapers are indvidually charging.

3) As others here have mentioned, the implementation is half-baked and terrible.

If they lower their cut, and fix the implantation, this could be successful.

Publishers aren't investing in tech infrastructure to distribute apps on smartphones. 50% is pennies to them on subscriptions. They are betting on people to get hooked on the News+ on the go and order a print version shipped to the home with a much larger pool of articles. Win/Win for the Publishing houses.
 

Defthand

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,351
1,712
...Apple’s services seem basically geared for the mass market, and that is who they will appeal to.

So the myriad of criticisms this forum loves to level at Apple, they may well be valid for the small vocal minority here, but that’s just that. There is value in this, and I believe it is value that the target market will be perfectly willing to pay for.

Ab, if the reality is that Apple is catering to the modest expectations of its least discerning customers, then there is no reason for you and I visit this site. There is no reason to show Apple any reverance. We may as well congregate on a website that observes Walmart.
 

ipponrg

macrumors 68020
Oct 15, 2008
2,309
2,087
I expect Apple to extend these News+ options to businesses who will pay a premium to have their staff get access to News+ as a work perk.

IT businesses already have their source for news that is more current than magazines.
 

philryan

macrumors newbie
Oct 18, 2010
23
14
There’s no such thing as the ‘free press’ these days unless money is changing hands.

Ummmm... you‘ve got the idea of a Free Press wrong. It’s not that it is free to get and read, but that it is free from arbitrary content restriction, i.e. usually government censorship, but also private or oligarchical censorship.

Someone has to pay to make the content in the news, either through advertising, subscriptions, or combination of both. Otherwise you are relying on the largesse of wealthy individuals to produce the news, and they wouldn’t be biased in any way, now, would they?
 

ntlman

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2005
152
261
IT businesses already have their source for news that is more current than magazines.

This is a good point that I think speaks to the viability of the weekly/monthly magazine model. The modern digital magazine, like a Politico/Bloomberg/Ringer/National Review/Verge, typically provides new content everyday, even though they would not be considered a daily newspaper in the traditional sense. People are slowly being untrained from the habit of sometimes waiting a week or even a whole month to catch up on the latest news for any given genre.
 

burgman

macrumors 68030
Sep 24, 2013
2,697
2,286
Hardly a shocking thing for me. Money talks. Big money talks a lot.

Past is past. Present is present. Glory in the past is not the justification of forgiving a horrible and messed up present.
You might read what I posted, nothing about glory, Apple is acting as it always has, as are Google and Microsoft. For that matter every large tech company.
 

macpow

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2015
1
0
The idea is great. The execution extremely disappointing. Why does a company with such enormous resources roll out such a sloppy product? Inconsistent format, confusing navigation, wild variation in presentation quality, crazy use of add space vs content, bare bone features and obvious lack of standards. They didn't put their heart into this one.
 

farewelwilliams

Suspended
Jun 18, 2014
4,966
18,041
is been called the new apple ever since mr cook came in
that is what differentiate mr cook era from, Steve era
apple, the real apple under Steve

and now this disaster called "the new apple" or what ever you want to call it
under your beloved mr cook

I didn't decide to call it that , that what is some what people call it

when I made that comment I wasn't just referring about time
but the new things that apple been doing lately
that's why I called "the new apple"
because is something that the real apple won't normally do

but since it seems that you want to be a wise guy

the iPhone was launch on 2007 but every year Tim say
"the new iPhone" because is a new model and changes has been made
so "the new apple" apple under Tim Cook as CEO
because he was selected as the new CEO and changes has been made

apple was founded in April 1 1976 so is not new

the cats only has 4 legs that thing you see in the back
is not a 5th leg, is a tail

nice try , filed attempt


I hate Tim Cook. I wonder why you assumed I love him. You sound like every other member on this forum that is extremely biased against Tim's Apple and immediately think those that disagree with you love Tim Cook. No. At least I'm objective with my reasonings.

Also you said "welcome to the new apple" which implies this "new apple" is related to time. Don't try to walk back on your statements.

Feel free to reply, but I won't be reading anymore of your statements. You refuse to admit wrong, so I won't waste anymore of my time talking with you.
 

code-m

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2006
3,638
3,398
Okay, honestly, who didn't see this one coming?

Growing pains/learning curve entering into a new services sector. Apple has never done any web services correct, iCloud while still not comparable to competitors is far better than iTools and whatever their called it after.
 
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philryan

macrumors newbie
Oct 18, 2010
23
14
1) Taking 50% is terrible business. The mafia didn't even take that much.

The silliness of the comments here is pretty amazing. Newsstands all over the world take AT LEAST a 40% cut of everything, and for magazines, more like 50%. Even that chocolate bar that you might buy with your newspaper has a retail margin of 30-40-50 or more percent.

This business is retail, the retailer builds, staffs, and manages the shop, the content producers make the content. How the split of final sale price goes to retailer, publisher, producer, and writer is something for commercial contractual relationships between all the parties.
 

Abazigal

Contributor
Jul 18, 2011
19,454
21,841
Singapore
Ab, if the reality is that Apple is catering to the modest expectations of its least discerning customers, then there is no reason for you and I visit this site. There is no reason to show Apple any reverance. We may as well congregate on a website that observes Walmart.

I don’t think the mass consumer is any less discerning, they just have different needs and expectations from the rest here.

Has it ever occurred to any of you all here that maybe you are the ones out of touch with what Apple is doing here? So we are basically viewing two movies on the same screen. The critics and haters here essentially see a train wreck in everything that Apple does (which to me says more about them than Apple because, seriously, who spends so much time on an online forum raging about something they hate?), while Apple’s offerings continue to resonate with the mass consumer market, the majority of whom do not frequent Macrumours and are happily using their Apple watches, drawing on their iPads, sharing Animoji and consuming news.

And maybe that’s the whole point. I for one am glad that the tech-savvy users here don’t get to decide what Apple, a design-led company, does (and doesn’t do).
 

DeMe

macrumors newbie
May 9, 2017
1
0
There are lots of magazines and newspapers to read with a subscription but it’s a terrible, unsophisticated experience. Using the app is like opening a box stuffed with magazines. You would never think the News application was created by the same company that created iTunes.
 

jamesnajera

macrumors 6502
Oct 5, 2003
463
179
Agreed … I don't see how Apple will make a paid news/publication service survive with so much free content across the Internet. Heck, many people get their news in 140 character bytes from Twitter anyway :rolleyes:

Agree, I feel like Apple put a lot of resources, energy and money into this for something to hard to contain. News and Magazine articles can be had so many different ways, from your local library online for free, to the publishers posting most their articles for free online or with their own subscription model.

Next, is Apple going to get in the news business and start hiring their own writers?

I just don’t see the point in this service. If Apple wants to be an aggregator based on the topics you like, great, but charging a service fee and wrangling a bunch of news content providers to play by Apple’s rules, to much work for little output.
 

Marc2018

macrumors newbie
Dec 31, 2017
10
27
Hate the game, not the player, right. Hopefully, people will just not buy into Apple services (News+, Arcade, ATV+, lastly, that stupid Apple Card). Can’t believe Apple has bought into the banking/credit card gig. That is so low. Apple is where it is today because of their quality OS/hardware eco system which has provided loyal customers for years.

The Apple board members need to question Tim Cook and the latest services concept. There are enough banks out there taking advantage of people with high interest rates, etc that Apple doesn’t need to join in. Unless Tim has realized that Apple’s ability to inovate is deminishing quickly. Sad that we don’t hear much from the great designer J. Ive lately and other senior team members who seem to be seen less and less at the Apple events.

Apple support has always been an issue with services like these. What makes publishers and users think that this time it will be any different. Oh, that’s right, Apple just bought out their competition and rebadged it as News+. No inovation here with that move, thanks Tim Cook. Once Apple realizes that they have to keep paying people to keep working on these services to stay relevant, they will quietly shut them down like they have done with other services in the past. Other than Apple Music and AppleCare, what services have they continued to support long term? I can’t think of any. As best as I can tell, even AppleCare appears to be managed by a 3rd party insurance company and I’m certain Apple makes at least 50% overall profit on that service.

I say don’t subscribe and maybe Apple will get back to creating quality OS and hardware products for its loyal user base. You know, what made Apple what it is today.
 
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jhwalker

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2011
377
693
The experience certainly leaves a great deal to be desired. You should be able to "favorite" magazines that would show up in "My Magazines" across ALL your devices, and the service should notify you (or automatically download, your choice) new issues when they be come available. That would be the MINIMUM I would expect.
 
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