Apple could be set to introduce a subscription feature into its News app that would offer users access to news and magazine content for a single recurring fee, according to reports.
The touted model is in the vein of that operated by music app Spotify and Apple’s own Apple Music, which offer users unlimited access to music for a monthly fee.
According to Bloomberg, which quotes sources familiar with the matter, the upgrade could launch within the next year and signed-up publishers would receive a cut of the subscription revenue.
Currently the News app is available free of charge and shares content only from publishers and broadcasters who are signed up to it.
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Pubishers can keep all revenue from ads they sell, 70 per cent when Apple sells the ads for them, or 50 per cent from pooled ads.
The app also prompts users to sign up for a subscription with individual publishers who use a paywall, and manages those subscriptions, but the new feature would mean a simplified payment system granting access to all content from signed-up publishers for a single fee.
The plan comes after the US tech giant bought magazine subscription app Texture last month, which offers users access to 200 magazines for $9.99 a month. Apple declined to comment.
In the UK, a rival magazine subscription service already exists through Swedish company Readly. Users are given unlimited downloads of digital magazines, including the likes of Empire, GQ and Heat, for a monthly fee.
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