Apple is reportedly planning to offer a service that can be considered the Netflix of magazines. The Cupertino tech giant would start offering a subscription service that allows users to read unlimited news and magazines. In March this year, Apple acquired the company Texture, which offered such a service and provided access to 200 magazines.
Bloomberg reports that Apple plans to start with the service next year, possibly in the spring. However, concerns of publishers could delay the plans of the company. Publishers would be concerned that the revenue Apple brings in will be less than what they would earn from their own subscription services. They are also afraid that Apple would steal their current subscribers. Texture subscriptions were $9.99, which is cheaper than an unlimited digital subscription to the New York Times, after introductory prices expire.
On the other hand, Apple has been very successful in marketing its services like the App Store and Apple Music and the company emphasizes that it hopes to double its income of services before 2020. The question for publishers is whether they believe Apple can also grow a service where it sells subscriptions to unlimited access to news and magazines. Apple would reportedly plan to offer the new service as a premium product within Apple News, an app that comes preinstalled on iPhones. That would mean that the service becomes available on 1.3 billion devices.
Earlier this year, Apple acquired Texture, a service that offered similar services and has 200,000 subscribers that nearly $10 a month. Publishers were paid based on the amount of time users spent on the publisher's content. It's unclear whether Apple will use a similar business model.
