Why does Apple want to sell news?

Apple wants to increase profits in the service industry by launching a subscription service Apple News Which should be announced at its annual event on March 25th.

Here we will try to read between the lines, how Apple is trying to redefine the information sector on the Internet and why do you want to enter this sector? And why should you, as a user or digital publisher, be interested?

First, you need to know five facts:

1. In the first quarter of 2019, Apple's service revenues increased by 28.2%.
2. Revenues from the news subscription will increase the profits of this sector.
3. Apple acquired a period ago Application of digital texture magazines.
4. But the digital media sector suffers from poor returns.
5. There are layoffs in the mainstream media. !!

Once you know the facts above, I think you have an idea of ​​the market direction. Apple wants to penetrate a sector that generates little revenue, but wants to share its profits with major media, which can be difficult to understand.

Apple is also suffering from problems: after more than ten years of growth and prosperity for the iPhone, it has shown First quarter data In decline since 2019, with sales of iPhone sales of 51.98 billion dollars, against 61.6 billion dollars for the same period of the previous year, a decrease of 15.6%.

In addition, revenues in the services sector increased by $ 10.9 billion, representing a growth of 28.2%. Apple will maximize revenue from this sector Serve movies and soap operas And then by launching the subscription service in its news application.

The story started early PAfter Acquisition Apple asked Digital Texture, began negotiations with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post to make their paid content available through the app, but faced reluctance.

According to the leaks, subscription fees will rise to $ 10 and Apple will charge 50% to publishers. Which is slightly higher than the Apple application developers, or 30%.

The presence of all these competitors in the same service does not seem attractive to service providers. Shared revenue sharing with Apple is so crazy.

But Apple can use the number of its two billion active devices to market the service and insure more publishers. She has "More than 1.4 billion"Even with a participation rate of 50% of Apple's revenue, the remaining percentage A new and important sales window for these media, to generate more revenue in this sector in crisis.

There are three sources of media-dependent revenue: advertising, monopolized by Google and Facebook, then selling content, then the paid subscription system, which depends on major media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Apple reorganization or control this area, you call it!

Low income crisis Speed ​​of appearance Collective redundancies in major media companies: Buzzfeed has announced a 15% workforce reduction and Verizon has announced a further 7% reduction in its workforce. What includes HuffPost, Yahoo and AOL combined, means the loss of more than 1,000 jobs.

It's no secret to Apple enthusiasts that previously, Apple has changed the music industry on the Internet and redefined it. On April 28, 2003, Steve Jobs appeared on Theater To inform us about the iTunes Store, and then told us in the announcement that the services available on time "Napster Napster "and" Kazaa "bad program and we have to quit the hacking." Eddie Keo, manager of the store, expects Apple to sell a million songs in six months, but the store is selling to a million copies in six days. "History will remember this as a turning point in the music industry," commented Job.

Apple will be used to the post-iPhone era, and maybe the future will sell the iPhone at a very low price or price, while the total returns will come from Qata.Including the service sector.

At the local level, the Saudi research and marketing group, the largest media group in the Middle East, has More than a dozen publications and websites, bAInvest in digital content through partnerships with global media groups.

Where he announced his partnership with Bloomberg Group and the launch of "Bloomberg EastHe said, and then launched the Arabic version of the newspaper Independent Arabic In partnership with the British newspaper "The Independent".

As for local content has been completed Acquisition On the share of 51% of the number of companies, One of its subsidiaries also announced the launch ofThe shopping center".

And in the sector of publishing and distribution National Distribution Company A company that belongs to them To several press organizations, bLaunch of the library BOX COM Backed by its huge shipping and distribution fleet that includes 1400 cars and trucks covering all the cities of the kingdom.

However, these changes are not enough and will not save the local press, whether it is paper or digital.

From now until next March, we will see how Apple will change the way we follow the news. We will wait.

Author: Ayad travel, interested in the field of technology and the economy.