Apple is reportedly planning to provide subscription content via its News app.
The Apple News app, which is currently available in the UK, US, and Australia, does not, at the moment, support subscriber log-in authentication.
The move will enable publishers such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to introduce their pay wall setup and will require readers to subscribe in order to view content for a certain period of time.
Reuters reported that by making paid content available via its News app, the iPhone maker would allow publishers to maintain relationships with readers and attract new subscribers.
Citing two sources, the news agency reported that publishers have been frustrated due to the lack of data they get from Apple about the readers of their content.
The company’s move is designed to address publishers’ concerns on lack of information about who is reading their articles.
Introduced in September, Apple News is claimed to have about 40 million users. The company has worked with over 100 publishers as of this month.
The app collects all the stories users want to read, from top news sources, and they can be customised depending on topics they are most interested in.
Last October, the Apple News app was blocked in China after pressure to censor content.
The Apple News app for iPhone and iPad is powered by Apple News Format, which provides a digital publishing format for publishers to create different layouts.
It displays a list of selected articles based on a user’s preferred media through a visually rich layout like that of a magazine. It aggregates news stories from around the Web through RSS feeds.
Instead of media content, Chinese customers were greeted with a message saying: "Can’t refresh right now. News isn’t supported in your current region."
Apple’s competitors are also working to give more flexibility to publishers.
Google is working on the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project, which intends to improve the mobile web and distribution ecosystem.
AMP will load in any modern browser or app webview. Its files use several technical and architectural approaches that prioritise speed for providing a faster experience for users.
