Apple News+ has struggled to add subscribers since first week of launch in March, sources say.
Since Apple launched its paid news app, Apple News+, in March and signed on 200,000 subscribers in 48 hours, the company has struggled to add customers, according to people familiar with the matter.
While Apple doesn’t reveal the exact numbers of News+ subscribers to publishers, the figure hasn’t increased materially from its first couple days, said the people, who asked not to be named because those details are confidential.
Subscriber growth for Apple News+ has disappointed several publishers who thought the product would bring in more revenue, the people said.
In recent months, Apple hasn’t put much marketing heft behind Apple News+, a premium product to regular Apple News, which curates top stories for iPhone and iPad owners.
MacDailyNews Take: Hence the need for Apple News+ to be bundled as soon as possible.
If Apple can work out the deals and they’re attractive enough to consumers, will only help Apple’s individual services gain subscribers. — MacDailyNews, November 14, 2019
Love Apple, love Macs, love iPhones, love AAPL… but very disappointed in Apple News.
The UI is weak. Too much is is “PDF” view. Too much is by extra subscription only. Hard to search for articles I’ve seen circulating on social media, and no ability to click a link from Twitter to read the article in Apple News.
Thinking of cancelling and waiting another year or two.
The other problem is that there’s so many FREE sources of news out there that the need for the extra subscription is small. That said, I’ll jump at a bundle that includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, iCloud and AppleNews for a reasonable monthly price ($14.99? $19.99?)
The real problem is the “news” label. Major media sources have lost credibility; ALL news is now tainted (“fake news”). No one wants to pay for an “agenda” even if it comes through Apple. Apple should call it something else, and approach it differently, not as a consolidation of “news.” Maybe they can make it an extension of Apple Books (+), and include some book-reading benefits plus the “news” stuff.
The only fake news is Fox so called news. Trump propaganda.
Why would half of America want a news collection put together by a corporation that excludes Republicans from employment?
Really…excludes R’s from working at Apple? C’mon, it’s hard to take seriously your thinking, or intent.
I am stating facts. Political donations are tracked and are publicly available. Apple employees gave about 95% of their donations to Democrats. Apple demanded that a law passed in North Carolina to protect North Carolina citizens from male predators in Ladies restrooms. Apple News is a liberal news aggregator. Apple TV + is a liberal content supplier. Apple has closed out conservative apps and conservative podcasts. You really are very ignorant of Apple.
Sad, but true.
Big picture is why pay for fake liberal news when there are hundreds of free options already available?
Also, the media is no longer trusted or credible Apple. Newspapers for 15+ years are either closing or the ones left bare bones existence after multiple staff downsizing’s.
Guess Apple figured putting their name on a dying untrusted industry would result in instant success. Not! …
Your reply is quite divergent from your statement about Apple’s hiring…so different, I just slapped my head to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.
And, no…I have a fairly good understanding of Apple. Liberal, yes. Are there R’s within? Yes. I know this absolutely.
R’s within? How much time did Jony Ive spend on the doorknobs of the closets R’s work in. That said, show us one…
GoeB, like I said, Apple is liberal and it wouldn’t surprise me that much of the Board and leadership positions are filled by like minds. On the other hand, Apple is a corporation in he spotlight and even the belief that Apple hires D’s exclusively is preposterous. As an R, why care anyway? Messing around in someone else’s business while one is not affected personally, legally, financially, etc is doing what is “expected” by the D’s.
“Show us one” is a ridiculous punctuation to your argument, as if the there’s a need to prove a ridiculous assumption (yours). I’ll be as ridiculous as you and say, you’ll have to trust me on this one, as I have more knowledge about the topic than is best shared here. There are R’s @ Apple. Again, this is not to say, the balance is 50/50 R to D, nor is it to say, leadership doesn’t swing strongly to the D-side. But again, I’ll just say, “so what?” I’m a believer that AAPL can do whatever it wants.
It’s worth noting that this entire thread would likely not happened under SJ’s leadership. TC has blurred the line of business, govt and social responsibility…unfortunately. Though I’ve benefitted greatly with the stock rise under Cook, I regret the loss of the flavor of Apple when led by SJ. It was a much better Story.
Not “messing around” simply asking for evidence to back up your claim.
You wrote: “Are there R’s within? Yes. I know this absolutely.”
How do you know this? What is your source? Please provide evidence to back up your claim. I don’t read anything to support your position. No worries, that passed.
That said, I totally agree with your characterization “the loss of the flavor of Apple”, DIED with mercurial Jobs.
We have a clueless creative CEO that, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! Only cares about his image and the bottom line… 😑
I suspect that he “knows there are Rs within” the same way I do. He has met some of them. He isn’t going to name them for the same reason I won’t. They are entitled to privacy.
Was I talking to you? It is rude to speak for some else. I’m not looking for names, just an explanation …
I am an Apple fan boy….but I get all the news I need from the Weather report…The rest I find Online
It needs to be bundled like all of those cable channels that didn’t/don’t get watched? Interesting concept.
Apple News+ is god awful
I used to have many subscriptions but have cut it down to just two or three now. When last I looked none of the magazines I currently take were available on News+ so there is no incentive for me. As others said, for mainstream news offerings you can get free or even abbreviated versions of the same articles or even different articles on the same subject from other sources so again no incentive. Even at 9.99 only finding one or two complete articles of interest is not worth the price when many of the same magazines are included as part of other services such as Amazon Prime.
I agree with most comments. If it included my two local newspapers, I might get Apple News. Maybe.