Apple today announced it signed an agreement to acquire Texture, the digital magazine subscription service by Next Issue Media LLC, which gives users unlimited access to their favorite titles for one monthly subscription fee.
Texture brings over 200 of the world’s best magazines to life, providing an easy way for users to read high-quality stories and entire issues of their favorite titles. With Texture, users enjoy the magazines they know and love, while discovering new content that fits their passions and interests.
“We’re excited Texture will join Apple, along with an impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world’s leading publishers,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in a statement. “We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users.”
“I’m thrilled that Next Issue Media, and its award-winning Texture app, are being acquired by Apple,” said John Loughlin, CEO of Next Issue Media / Texture, in a statement. “The Texture team and its current owners, Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Rogers Media and KKR, could not be more pleased or excited with this development. We could not imagine a better home or future for the service.”
Since its launch in 2010, Texture has become the leading multi-title subscription service giving users the ability to instantly access some of the most widely read magazines while on the go. In 2016, Texture was chosen by the App Store editorial team for the annual Best Of selections, which celebrate the most innovative apps and games for iOS users.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Fits well with Apple products and services, especially iPad and Apple News.
A smart, strategic, integratable acquisition.
Apple seems intent upon collecting rent from everyone. Rent your music, rent your movies, rent your magazines…
I’ll stick with Zinio
I din’t realise that still exists! There was a time long ago when I tried it, but Flash on desktop was a bit annoying.
If the functionality is built into the News or any other app (as was Newsstand), that would work quite fine, and there would be no need for separate apps (or Zinio).
Years ago Apple used to include the Zinio app with new Macs. The first time I remember seeing it was when I bought a 400Mhz G3 Blue Bubble Back iMac for the munchkins to use when they were at the house. That kept them off my PowerMac.
$1,000 for a CRT iMac with a CD drive, WiFi and USB connectors. All very top drawer back then. That thing lasted about 14 years before kicking and the only things replaced were the mouse ( by choice) and the watch battery inside that preserved your settings when it was shut off (PRAM, maybe)
I thought about try Texture (the YouTube video show iOS Today has Texture as one of its advertisers/sponsors), but I don’t like the whole “rent-a-magazine” monthly paradigm either, even though for $9 a month you get access to a WHOLE LOT of digital magazine content, but wasn’t sure with the monthly subscription if you would have access to earlier issues/back issues of my favorite magazines to read, also.
I’d rather keep my Zinio digital may subscription and my individual digital magazine apps subcriptions and pay to be able to still own and have access to all of my previously purchased and newly purchased digital magazine content, just like Kindle and iBooks, rather than rent the content and/or not have access to earlier magazine issues I may forget to read or not get to in previous months.
I agree with one user here that Texture’s subscription models fts right in with all of Apple’s monthly rental models.
I am just NOT onboard with a lot of online digital stuff being monthly subscription-ised.
I think we are already getting fee’d to death with a lot of digital content subscription.
Digital music/radio, digital TV/Movie content providers, digital print magazine providers, apps with monthly subscription fees,
monthly fees for offsite data storage services, etc.
The costs of these seemingly small monthly subscription fees all add up at the end of one month!
Agree with all your excellent points. I want to own what I pay for and the only rent is for a rare Redbox rental. Prefer being unchained from the rental model for life …