Oliver Haslam·

Apple To Launch Premium News & Magazine Subscription Service By End Of Year [Report]

Apple’s recent acquisition of Texture will allow it to kick a subscription news and magazine service of its own into gear, according to a new report coming out of Bloomberg.

The paid-for service will offer content and magazines from a number of different publishers, the report says. Users will access the new content via a redesigned Apple News app, with the subscription and experience mimicking that of Apple Music.

An upgraded Apple News app with the subscription offering is expected to launch within the next year, and a slice of the subscription revenue will go to magazine publishers that are part of the program, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private plans. Apple declined to comment.

While Apple already offers subscriptions to news and magazines via the News app, those are individual subscriptions that are taken on a publication-by-publication basis. The new offering will be an all-you-can-eat solution that will see revenue split with content partners in a similar way to existing subscription models such as the Texture service that Apple bought.

Bloomberg’s report confirms that work to bring Texture under Apple’s wing is already underway and that around 20 employees have already lost their jobs as part of the process.

Texture offered subscriptions for $9.99 which provided access to more than 200 magazines prior to its buyout by Apple and it is likely that this same pricing model will be in place as and when Apple’s new service goes live.

This is the latest move in Apple’s continuing quest to offer more and more subscription-based services. With Apple music continuing to gain subscribers, iCloud storage offering subscriptions for additional space, and Apple perpetually rumored to be launching a streaming video service, the arrival of a news and magazine subscription should come as little surprise, especially post-Texture acquisition.

(Source: Bloomberg)

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