Apple Is Poised To Take Another Swing At News Subscriptions And This Time It Might Work

If the price and content is right.

- Michael Simon

Raise your hand if you remember The Daily (go.macworld.com/ daly). Back when the iPad still had a 30-pin connection port, Apple teamed up with News Corp to bring a new type of publication to the burgeoning tablet market featuring exclusive, interactive content, rich animations, and touch-focused games. It cost a buck a week or $40 a year and was delivered to Apple’s Newsstand app on the iPad each morning. It lasted less than two years (go.macworld.com/dlsh).

The biggest problem with The Daily was that it was too middle-of-the-road. Even after the early bugs were squashed, The Daily’s content was too generic to find a dedicated audience, a death knell in today’s 24/7 news culture. But Apple hasn’t given up on making subscription news a feature on iPhones and iPads. Just last month Apple announced it had acquired magazine delivery app Texture (go.macworld.com/dmss), and according to a new report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg (go.macworld.com/mgbb), a “premium subscription” news service is on the way.