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Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#11

Post by mcny »

untog wrote: post #6

I'm confused why WSJ, of all publications, is jumping on board here. A look at their subscription page shows me that the cheapest option is $15 a month. This Apple News subscription product is going to be $10 a month and Apple is taking 50% of that. I get the argument that Apple News will expose you to a much larger audience, but that level of revenue cut is... significant. Why wouldn't I cancel my WSJ subscription a…

» I'm confused why WSJ, of all publications, is jumping on board here. A look at their subscription page shows me that the cheapest option is $15 a month. This Apple News subscription product is going to be $10 a month and Apple is taking 50% of that.

» I get the argument that Apple News will expose you to a much larger audience, but that level of revenue cut is... significant. Why wouldn't I cancel my WSJ subscription and sign up with Apple?

You should absolutely cancel your WSJ subscription and sign up with Apple. I agree 50% cut is a little steep but I am worried Apple might not have enough clout. What's to stop WSJ from spinning off (for example) new media into a separate entity therefore allow Apple news access to only a subset of its offerings? Does Apple have enough power to call a spade a spade?

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#12

Post by tuna-piano »

untog wrote: post #6

I'm confused why WSJ, of all publications, is jumping on board here. A look at their subscription page shows me that the cheapest option is $15 a month. This Apple News subscription product is going to be $10 a month and Apple is taking 50% of that. I get the argument that Apple News will expose you to a much larger audience, but that level of revenue cut is... significant. Why wouldn't I cancel my WSJ subscription a…

Maybe WSJ would only allow this on iPads and iPhones, and they think their higher paying normal users also want access on desktop devices? Maybe WSJ got something crazy like a 10 year exclusive without NYT or Washington Post in the service?

Still seems crazy... Apple seems to need the WSJ more than the WSJ would need Apple for this service. WSJ is a marquee name and content producer that millions of people are willing to pay for. WSJ is profitable and seems to do just fine in print and digital distribution.

While the $10 price point may be the correct one for all parties involved (a value price point expands scale without expanding cost) - the 50% cut seems wild.

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#13

Post by kyleblarson »

steve19 wrote: post #5
tptacek wrote: post #3

Broken record: online newspaper subscriptions are super cheap and are remarkably useful; when you can click around a newspaper site without popups, it starts to makes sense to use them as your news portal, which quickly weans you off lower-quality free sites like CNN. Like the people that get the sleep apnea devices and won't shut up about how much better their life is, I'm constantly (and noisily) surprised by how s…

I think the problem is that some sites are charging for low quality click bait journalism. I am not going to pay for NYT or WP or the many magazines I used to subscribe to and dont anymore. I will pay for WsJ, The Economist and Bloomberg. Its when they want both seo/viral traffic AND my subscription dollars that annoys me.

Additionally the WSJ iPad app is gorgeous.

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#14

Post by techntoke »

winningcontinue wrote: post #10
tptacek wrote: post #3

Broken record: online newspaper subscriptions are super cheap and are remarkably useful; when you can click around a newspaper site without popups, it starts to makes sense to use them as your news portal, which quickly weans you off lower-quality free sites like CNN. Like the people that get the sleep apnea devices and won't shut up about how much better their life is, I'm constantly (and noisily) surprised by how s…

counterpoint: journalism is obsolete. At least from the standpoint of newspapers. Good writing is superfluous. The content and information that I'm really after is available in more condensed format through aggregators, reactions on discussion forums and summaries. Most people prefer not to read a long article. Just give me the TLDR, the chart, the stock price, the name, the temperature etc...

But where is the benefit if you aren't misleading them for your own profit and ideologies? /s

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#16

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

untog wrote: post #6

I'm confused why WSJ, of all publications, is jumping on board here. A look at their subscription page shows me that the cheapest option is $15 a month. This Apple News subscription product is going to be $10 a month and Apple is taking 50% of that. I get the argument that Apple News will expose you to a much larger audience, but that level of revenue cut is... significant. Why wouldn't I cancel my WSJ subscription a…

Worth noting that after the first year, that $15/mo turns into $40/mo (which is when I cancelled my subscription).

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#17

Post by gnicholas »

mikekij wrote: post #4
tptacek wrote: post #3

Broken record: online newspaper subscriptions are super cheap and are remarkably useful; when you can click around a newspaper site without popups, it starts to makes sense to use them as your news portal, which quickly weans you off lower-quality free sites like CNN. Like the people that get the sleep apnea devices and won't shut up about how much better their life is, I'm constantly (and noisily) surprised by how s…

I pay for WSJ, but am somehow constantly required to login again and again. It’s almost infuriating enough to make me cancel my subscription.

If you're experiencing this on iOS, it's probably because of some anti-tracking "improvements" that Apple released with iOS 11. This feature unfortunately makes it so the WSJ subscriber cookie is forgotten very frequently.

I ran into this problem with an app [1] I built, which has a partnership with the WSJ and gives free guest access to their content. When iOS 11 came out, we got lots of support emails from people wondering why they had to log in with their guest pass all the time. In my experience, it happens at least once a day. Our users put up with this because we give them free access to the WSJ, but I can't imagine putting up with this as a paying customer.

1: http://www.readacrosstheaisle.com

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#19

Post by [deleted] »

untog wrote: post #6

I'm confused why WSJ, of all publications, is jumping on board here. A look at their subscription page shows me that the cheapest option is $15 a month. This Apple News subscription product is going to be $10 a month and Apple is taking 50% of that. I get the argument that Apple News will expose you to a much larger audience, but that level of revenue cut is... significant. Why wouldn't I cancel my WSJ subscription a…

[deleted]

Re: Apple News Service Said to Feature WSJ for $10 a month, Without NYT or WP

#20

Post by esun »

Former newspaper industry employee here... This is a mistake by the WSJ. They would be better served by reducing their ridiculous digital subscription fees and skipping Apple's extortionate gatekeeping "service".

The newspaper industry was founded on (although nobody really understood it until the invention of the internet) being the intermediary between consumers and companies. In 2019 the business has changed to content provision. But these old line companies (and who is older line than Apple and the WSJ?) can't help but try to discover intermediary points of control.

Pah.

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