As hardware sales across the board continue slowing, Apple is looking to online content and services to increase revenue. Its next boost could come from Apple News. The service that collects stories from around the world will soon have a subscription for premium content, according to Bloomberg.
Texture, which was bought by Apple last month for an undisclosed amount, would be the backbone of the new service. The company will bundle magazines (and possibly newspapers) on iOS devices for one price. Texture has offered hundreds of magazines for $10 per month. Apple probably won’t alter the price, but its leverage could bring in more publishers.
After the acquisition, Apple laid off nearly two dozen Texture employees. That makes it clear Apple was more interested in the technology than anything else.
Apple News would become similar to Apple Music, the music streaming service that’s been on the rise for several years. Payouts would be similar, too, with Apple collecting a monthly fee and distributing a set percentage to publishers.
This wouldn’t be the first time Apple got involved in premium content relating to news. More than seven years ago, Apple and News Corporation joined together to create The Daily. It was a new organization available exclusively through the iPad. When both sides realized how narrow the audience was for premium content on a single device, The Daily was killed off in 2012.
Of course, the differences between Texture’s business and The Daily are big. Rather than being its own content creator, Texture merely takes what publishers already make and stores items in a hub. Apple would do the same, funneling various sources into a section of Apple News behind a paywall.
Apple might not announce the subscription service at WWDC 2018, though. While there’s a chance it could debut at the company’s annual developer conference in June, the report says the launch is happening within the next year.
