In what can’t really be a surprise development to anyone, the San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Apple is planning “a new subscription plan for newspapers” for their iPad, iPhone and more that will be launched “soon.” No specific sources are used in the article but it claims the service will have a similar pay structure to the one used in Apple’s App Store, with content providers keeping 60% to 70% of the revenue.
According to the article: “The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers.”
People already use the iPad and iPhone for reading books, comics and more so this is a natural evolution of the device. In fact, many newspapers and magazines already feature their content on the iPad.
It doesn’t really take much to imagine others who don’t want to go to the expense of developing their own applications, such as done by the New York Times and Wired Magazine, and would instead adapt to a subscription model that would probably not require as much work on their part.
If true, this report could prove very interesting indeed and I, for one, would probably opt in to a few newspapers myself. What about you?
Trolly Troll
September 15, 2010 at 6:09 pmfirst…