According to a report by BuzzFeed, Apple is gearing up to launch a news subscription service on March 25 during a special event. The paid service would give users access to a kind of ‘Netflix of news’ platform.
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In other words, you’d pay a single monthly fee for access to a suite of magazines and publications which are usually behind their own paywall. Preview images for the service were found in the iOS 12.2 beta last month, so it looks like it’s a pretty sure bet that it’s a real thing.
In terms of the event, nothing’s official yet – the company haven’t even sent out invites – but John Paczkowski of BuzzFeed has been pretty spot on with dates like these in the past, The Verge points out.
Another report by The Wall Street Journal, however, has said that Apple is having dramas with publishing partners, and rightfully so, because the company is apparently asking for a 50 per cent revenue cut from subscriptions. Crazier still, the second half would be divided amongst publishers based on how much their articles were read, which seems like a pretty bung deal.
The price is yet to be finalised, but according to rumours, the WSJ says it’ll be around the $10 USD mark, so $14 or so for us.
It’s not likely we’ll see any new hardware announcements at the March event, but there may be a peek at Apple’s upcoming streaming TV service, which is also slated for launch this year.
It’ll be interesting to see how Apple plans to attack both of these markets, particularly as iPhone sales begin to taper off.
