Apple has just announced the launch of App Store Subscriptions, a service “for all publishers of content-based apps”.
It’s the same system used for News Corp’s much-hyped The Daily.
The deal is simple: Apple takes 30% of all subs bought through the App Store. Publishers are allowed to sell subs via other channels if they wish, and keep all the money.
Or in a comment attributed to Steve Jobs in the official press release:
“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing.”
Further down, there’s this other interesting nugget:
Publishers must provide their own authentication process inside the app for subscribers that have signed up outside of the app.
Hmm. So does that mean that developers of Mac OS X apps could soon be allowed to add their own in-app authentication for Mac App Store apps that have previously been purchased outside of the store?
There’s another rule for publishers: if you do any special deals or offers outside the Store, you still have to make the same offer inside the Store.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
