Mikey Campbell
According to a report on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal plans to join Apple's widely rumored for-pay news service, one of only a handful of top-tier publications thought to be participating in the initiative.
Citing people familiar with the deal, The New York Times reports The WSJ has acquiesced to Apple's revenue sharing terms and will join the tech giant as a launch partner of a new subscription news service set for unveiling at a special event on March 25.
The WSJ will be a rare jewel in the proverbial Apple News crown. As reconfirmed by today's report, other large publications like The Washington Post, and The Times itself, have not signaled intent to join Apple's new venture.
A major sticking point for publishers is Apple's supposed terms for inclusion in the forthcoming service. Previous reports claimed the iPhone maker is demanding a 50 percent cut of revenue on what is expected to be a $10 per month subscription. The remaining 50 percent will supposedly be pooled and subsequently meted out evenly amongst participating publishers.
Publications with their own subscription program, like The Post, likely see little upside to Apple's model as they charge similar rates for access to first-party content. The Times, for example, charges subscribers $15 per month.
The Times echoed the previously reported 50 percent figure on Wednesday, adding that Apple is also seeking unlimited access to all content produced by potential partners. With terms 20 percent more dear than Apple's customary 30 percent App Store fee (which turns into 15 percent on subscriptions older than a year), customer data restrictions and onerous content demands, publishers are hesitant to join the service.
Apple is reportedly leveraging a massive install base — 900 million active iPhones — as a key selling point in its negotiations, arguing the news product will expose publisher content to millions of new users. Established news outlets, however, have for the most part not taken the bait.
AppleInsider will be on the scene in Cupertino with live coverage of Apple's March 25 press event starting at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.
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77 Comments
If the rumored terms are correct and the newspapers are going to make full .pdf copies of the papers available through Apple News Service then I'll be one happy camper. My teaser rate of $20 a month for the WSJ runs out this month and would jump to $40. I could probably call and haggle with them for digital-only access and get them down to something like $25 - $30, but for only $10 a month for Apple News it looks like I'll be cancelling my individual subscription pretty quick.
Any other available news sources would just be icing on the cake at that point.
What’s a Wall Street Journal?
I remember the music industry being against iTunes selling single songs and later against streaming.
Printed newspapers and magazines are a dying breed, and the publishers are still stuck in the same mentality the music industry was (you want that song, you gotta buy the whole CD).
They’ll all come around eventually.
Sounds like this will be quite a service. I don't expect to be on board though. The free News App has never been available in Canada. I doubt the pay service will be available here either. Regardless, $10/mo is more than I want to pay. I just don't have time to to read enough to make it worth it. I'll stick to BBC and CBC.