Condé Nast executive joins Apple’s growing News team

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Apple News
Apple has a new head of news business.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has hired ex-Condé Nast executive Liz Schimel to work as part of its Apple News team. Schimel joined the company earlier this summer, and will serve as the “head [of Apple’s] news business.”

It’s another illustration of how Apple is increasing its focus on this area. This comes at a time when rival tech giants like Facebook are more worried than ever about their role in helping disseminate news online.

Prior to joining Apple in July, Schimel worked as the president of Condé Nast China, along with being an entrepreneur-in-residence at Comcast Ventures. She has also worked as the Chief Digital Officer for the media company Meredith Corporation.

A renewed focus on Apple News

Apple News launched with iOS 9 as a successor to the previous Newsstand app. However, while it didn’t immediately set the world on fire, it appears that Apple is now ramping up its focus on the service.

Last year, Apple hired Lauren Kern, one of New York Magazine’s most high-ranking editors and a former deputy editor at The New York Times Magazine, as its first ever editor-in-chief. At WWDC, Apple announced that Apple News is coming to macOS Mojave.

Apple News has so far acted as an aggregation service, although there’s some evidence that Apple is broadening its horizons. Earlier this year, it offered an exclusive book excerpt from Senator John McCain’s new political memoir, The Restless Waves. Apple also acquired Texture, a digital magazine subscription service, back in March.

For the upcoming 2018 Midterm Elections, Apple is setting its News app up as a place to get “trustworthy” information; boasting curated stories from a diverse range of “reliable sources.”

Source: The Information

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