Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will launch a new subscription service, the tech giant announced today. For a $9.99 monthly fee, the Apple News service will offer subscribers access to a number of different publications that are otherwise behind paywalls.

Will it take off?

Apple News Service

The new services will be fulfilled by news publications such as The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Time, and People, along with more than 300 other magazine titles.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, spoke at a media event held at Apple’s headquarters earlier today, saying:

“We believe in the power of journalism and the impact it can have on our lives […] We want to make a valuable contribution to the industry and society as a whole.”

Dubbed Apple News+, the Apple news service is available in the US and Canada. The service will expand to Europe and Australia later this year.

The new service is a part of the Apple News app that comes pre-installed on Apple mobile devices. Subscribers will be able to opt-in or not as they so wish.

New Audience

The potential reach for the Apple News service’s affiliated publications runs into the multi-millions. There are over a billion Apple devices worldwide, with more than 200 million of these in the US and Canada combined. 

As such, this partnership has the potential to push these news magazines in front of a new audience.

LA Times Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine said in a statement:

“Apple News+ provides a perfect platform for our expanded coverage of news, analysis, and opinion […] We share a world vision that is informed by our California roots and by our common commitment to innovation and excellence.”

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Revenue

The tech giant will engage in a 50/50 revenue split with the newspapers signed up to the service. Apple will take half the subscription fee and the remainder divided between the publishers. This share is tallied based on each publisher’s total readership on the new platform.

This is a higher cut than the more usual 30% Apple normally takes from app purchases or subscription fees through the App Store.

For this reason, some larger national newspapers have chosen not to participate in the Apple news service. For example, The New York Times and the Washington Post are reportedly saying no to the service.

What is your opinion? Would you pay $9.99 per month for the Apple news service, Apple News+?

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