Apple hires former Conde Nast executive to bolster Apple News business

Apple recently hired Liz Schimel, a media veteran who previously served as president of Conde Nast China, as part of a continued push into the news business headed by its flagship Apple News product.

Schimel is tasked with managing Apple's news service under Peter Stern, the former Time Warner Cable executive who leads the company's subscription-based products, reports The Information. Stern was recently promoted

According to her LinkedIn profile, Schimel took on the role of "head of news business" at Apple in July, working out of New York. The publication believes her hiring suggests the iPhone maker is placing increased emphasis on generating advertising revenue through the News app.

Just prior to joining Apple, Schimel was named entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) at Comcast Ventures in January. The executive has ample experience in the magazine business, having worked as president of Conde Nast China for five years and chief digital officer of Meredith Corporation. She also held VP roles at Nokia and AT&T, and served as SVP of Entertainment at Comcast from 2005 to 2008.

Launched in 2015, Apple News is a first-party news aggregator Apple offers on its iOS platform. Similar to other Apple services, like Apple Music, News benefits from human curation, carried out by an editorial team that reportedly fields story pitches through Slack.

Initially a minor player in driving traffic to major publications, News has quickly grown its user base and now commands a significant role in the online media market. An in-depth look at the service from The Information, published earlier this year, estimates Apple News can in some cases account for between 50 percent and 60 percent of traffic for certain publications.

While Apple News leverages Apple's massive iOS device user base to drive traffic, and in some cases new subscribers, the service has yet to generate "meaningful" advertising revenue for publishers, the report said. That could change under Schimel's guidance and Apple's rumored launch of a subscription news service on the back of its acquisition of Texture.

17 Comments

9secondkox2 3105 comments · 8 Years

About 6 years ago

And the next thing I knew, I was getting a new political newsletter in my email.

No thanks. I can read for myself thanks. Don’t need someone’s idea of what I should be reading shoved at me.

tommikele 599 comments · 12 Years

9secondkox2 said:

And the next thing I knew, I was getting a new political newsletter in my email.

No thanks. I can read for myself thanks. Don’t need someone’s idea of what I should be reading shoved at me.

Exactly how are they shoving anything at you? if you were to choose to use the as a news aggregator, you control where the feeds come from. The article says just about nothing the you infer is in there. You claim you can read for yourself. After reading the article and then your comment, that claim rings hollow.

matrix077 868 comments · 9 Years

9secondkox2 said:

And the next thing I knew, I was getting a new political newsletter in my email.

No thanks. I can read for myself thanks. Don’t need someone’s idea of what I should be reading shoved at me.

Just liking whatever on Fox News and you’ll get only political news you like in no time. Also check Restrict Stories in For You and unsubscribe to Apple News weekly mail. Problem solved.

nunzy 662 comments · 6 Years

Every time Apple enters a market, they end up dominating it. And then they curate the hell out of it.

Finally the news will be suitable for families and children. It's about time!

tommikele said:

9secondkox2 said:

And the next thing I knew, I was getting a new political newsletter in my email.

No thanks. I can read for myself thanks. Don’t need someone’s idea of what I should be reading shoved at me.

Exactly how are they shoving anything at you? if you were to choose to use the as a news aggregator, you control where the feeds come from. The article says just about nothing the you infer is in there. You claim you can read for yourself. After reading the article and then your comment, that claim rings hollow.

tommikele said:

9secondkox2 said:

And the next thing I knew, I was getting a new political newsletter in my email.

No thanks. I can read for myself thanks. Don’t need someone’s idea of what I should be reading shoved at me.

Exactly how are they shoving anything at you? if you were to choose to use the as a news aggregator, you control where the feeds come from. The article says just about nothing the you infer is in there. You claim you can read for yourself. After reading the article and then your comment, that claim rings hollow.

What are you talking about

this doesn’t have anything to do with preferences chosen in the news app. This is apples own curated newsletter. None of it reflects what my choices were.

Try again or or at least inform yourself first.