Surprise surprise!
After much speculation, Apple has confirmed a new subscription service will be available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store, including magazines and newspapers.
The move follows the launch of News Corp's The Daily, which was the first publication to use the digital subscription service via Apple's App Store.
Subscriptions will be sold via the usual App Store billing system and publishers can set the price and length of the subscription i.e. weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually etc.
"Then with one-click, customers pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged based on their chosen length of commitment," said Apple. Customers are able to review and manage their subscriptions from their personal account page.
Apple will pocket 30 percent of the subscription charges, as it does with current sales, but the subscription move may not go down too well with publishers, who are losing cash as more people buy their products via Apple instead of via their own websites.
Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs said: "Our philosophy is simple-when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing."
"All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers," he added.
Apple said that publishers must provide their own authentication process inside the app for subscribers. "In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a web site, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app," it added.
So it seems Apple really wants that 30 percent then. It remains to be seen if any of the publishers that are cheesed off with the deal are brave enough to leave the App Store.
