Apple's News Subscription Service Coming Soon
Apple is reportedly planning an event on March 25th to launch its upcoming paid Apple News subscription service.
According to BuzzFeed, the event will reportedly focus on Apple’s service business, which will soon include Apple's upcoming TV service, rumored to launch this spring.
However, we expect to see some hardware announcements during the event. The updated version of the company’s entry-level iPad could make a good match with Apple News subscription service.
Previous reports suggested that Apple would offer premium magazine and news subscriptions in a single bundle, similar to what Netflix and Hulu provide for TV and movies.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier today that Apple was having some issues with publisher partners over revenue splits for the upcoming service. According to the report, Apple is currently proposing deals in which it would keep half that revenue for itself, while the other half would depend on how much time users spend reading each publisher’s content. The model is similar in ways to how Spotify has calculated artist payouts in the past based on overall listening times. The service is rumored to cost $10 per month, although that number hasn’t been finalized, according to the WSJ.
Apple News comes preinstalled on every one of the billions of iOS devices in the world.
The paid Apple News subscription and the upcoming TV service is part of Apple’s focus on selling paid services going forward, following a slump in iPhone sales.
Apple's streaming television service will likely include subscription TV services from CBS Corp, Viacom Inc and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp's Starz among others as well as its own original content. The company is also in discussions with HBO, to become part of the service.