| Cult of Mac

Big changes might come to struggling Apple News+

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Apple News
Apple News+ revenues fail to impress publishers.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple is already having to consider some major changes to its new Apple News+ service just three months after it launched earlier this year.

The subscription news service was supposed to be a boon for publishers and bring in a ton of extra cash, but a new report claims most publishers are only seeing a fraction of the revenue Apple promised.

Apple News may let publishers charge readers

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Apple News
Apple News is about to get magazines too.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple may be planning to loosen its tight control of the way ads are run on the Apple News app. And that could mean big bucks for publishers.

A money fix for the app is supposedly in the works, according to a new report that claims publishers potentially could soon make the same amount of money off ads in Apple News as they do from their own websites.

Apple News just got a lot friendlier for publishers

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news-apple
Will you give it another shot?
Photo: Apple

Apple today made a number of changes to Apple News that make the platform much more friendly for content publishers — especially those who are only just signing up. The company now allows all channels to use custom graphics, and allows old stories to be added seamlessly.

Apple’s latest failure: advertising

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apple-iad-banner
Apple just isn't cut out for the business.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s six-year dabble into the world of advertising has come to an end. The company is reportedly surrendering its iAd program over entirely to publishers. That means publishers will get full control over the creation of ads, ad management and selling them. Apple apparently just doesn’t want anything to do with the ad business anymore.

Create Remarkable Websites With The Ultimate WordPress Starter Kit [Deals]

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redesign_wordpress_mainframe

Have you ever thought about building your own website without spending thousands of dollars or thought about starting a freelance web development gig? What if it was all possible without knowing how to code? Well, it’s true.

WordPress is a full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes. It’s a system that makes it easy for anyone to get a professional website up and running without knowing how to code, and now WPMU DEV has created an amazing membership service that will give you all the essential tools you need to get a WordPress website up and running…and all for just $89.

Publishers Claim Recent DOJ E-Book Decision Punishes Them More Than Apple

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Not too surprisingly, the five major publishers originally named in the U.S. Department of Justice’s e-book case regarding their collusion with Apple on pricing have now themselves filed a complaint regarding the Justice Department’s proposal to eliminate the use of the agency model in any Apple agreements with publishers for a period of five years.

Publishers like the agency model as it allows them to set prices for e-books, instead of the distributor, as Amazon did before Apple’s own iBooks system launched on the iPad.

DoJ Wants Apple To Terminate Deals With Publishers, Link To Rival Bookstores Instead

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Apple can't ditch its ebook compliance monitor.
Apple can't ditch its ebook compliance monitor.
Photo: Apple

The ongoing iBooks antitrust case between Apple and the United States Department of Justice took a very interesting twist this morning when the DoJ and 33 state Attorneys General laid out plans to remedy Apple’s wrongdoings and restore competition to the market.

The DoJ wants Apple to terminate all of its deals with book publishers, and refrain from entering into any new ones for at least five years. It also wants the company to start selling e-books from rivals like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Google Exec’s Testimony Hurts Government Case In Apple E-Book Trial

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Today, the fourth day of the Apple e-book anti-trust trial taking place in New York, Google’s director of strategic partnerships testified as a government witness. Thomas Turvey, under cross examination from Apple lawyer Orin Snyder, told the court that while the publishers named in the original suit had told him that they had moved to an agency model due to deals with Apple, he also acknowledged that his lawyer had helped him draft his own statement for the court, and that he was unsure of the details within the statement.

In other words, the exact opposite of what a credible witness says.

Apple Responds To eBook Conspiracy Charges, Blames Publishers

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ibookstore

According to Reuters, US authorities have called Apple out for collusion with electronic book publishers, saying that the Cupertino-based company conspired with publishers to raise eBook prices when negotiating iBooks by playing them all against each other and against rival eBook retailer, Amazon.

The US Justice Department accused Apple of price fixing in April 2012 in relation to Apple’s negotiations with five publishers when it was launching the iPad in early 2010. The Justice Department has settled out of court with each of the publishers, which included HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, and Pearson’s Penguin Group.