Malcolm Owen
Following the launch of its Apple News+ magazine subscription service, Apple is preparing to close down the standalone version of Texture for all users at the end of May, with the notice of closure urging customers to try out the new Apple News subscription instead.
Apple launched its long-rumored subscription feature for Apple News, titled Apple News+, on Monday alongside a host of other services. The announcement was a sign Texture's time was running out, something Apple confirmed on Friday via the Texture website.
The front page of the site warns "Texture is ending," before pointing users towards Apple News+ as its replacement. The page also includes a link advising of a one-month free trial for the service, which normally costs $9.99 per month.
Bought in March 2018, Texture provided access to digital magazines on a subscription, with hundreds of publications provided in a similar manner to Apple News+'s offering. It is largely believed the agreements and underlying technology of Texture was used to produce Apple News+.
According to the support pages, Texture will be operational until May 28, 2019. There is no word on whether existing subscriptions will stop for the app ahead of that date, or if there will be some form of pro-rating for charges until the app's end of life, but the site does confirm gift codes for Texture will no longer be honored.
While the closure of Texture will mean many users on Apple devices will simply move over to Apple News+, not all users will be affected the same way. Subscribers with Android devices will have to find an alternative service as Apple News+ is not available on that platform at this time.
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19 Comments
This is one of the areas where Apple may find some risk. This is a news platform. There is no real reason this should not be available on Android or Windows platforms. Tying services revenue to your own hardware still puts some limits on your ability to maximize revenue. I know plenty of people who have iPads and Android phones. The new News app renders the magazines really well. Those people may well like the ability to read on their Android phones during the day without needing the iPad.
Masterful marketing strategy, lock out android... here are the numbers for share from 2/2018 to 2/2019:
Andriod: 74%
ios: 23%
And before y'all jump down my throat, I have been a HUGE fan of theirs since my first Mac in 1984, chances are before some of ya'll were born. I've spent more time than I care to calculate railing against apple haters... but find myself on too many recent occasions on that side.
Crap. The magazine experience in Apple News+ sucks so much compared to Texture. I have the free trial right now, and it’s missing all the features that make Texture cool, like back issues, and automatically downloading new issues. And in Canada at least, it’s missing a ton of the magazines I usually read!
Since the Toronto Star content in News+ sucks too, I see no reason to bother paying for this garbage, unless some crazy changes happen to it in the next couple months.