Apple News offers publishers in-app subscriptions
Apple has overhauled its News app to enable publishers to sign up new subscribers from within the platform, albeit with Apple taking a 30 per cent cut of all new subscriptions and 15 per cent of any renewals.
The changes follow roll-out of iOS 10 and will allow readers to sign up for as many as 14 separate publications and pay directly from their iTunes accounts, opening up a new revenue stream for participating publishers such as The Economist, Cosmopolitan and Time.
Using this approach Apple will also gain access to customer data and payment information, asserting itself over publishers who have long fought with Apple for the right to control this data.
Previously would-be subscribers had to navigate to the app store to do so.
The system reflects the advertising revenue sharing model currently used by Apple News, where Apple takes a 30 per cent cut of the ad revenue if it is sold directly by Apple.
Not all publishers have been sold on the new approach however with the FT severing its association with the service as it seeks to focus efforts elsewhere.