Apple could launch news subscription service next month

Could Apple be launching a news subscription service this spring? — AFP Relaxnews

Apple reportedly has scheduled a news event for March 25 at the Steve Jobs Theater in California, according to sources cited by BuzzFeed.

In line with the company's launches taking place in spring in previous years, Apple has allegedly scheduled a news event on March 25, as reported Feb 12 by BuzzFeed, at which we can expect to see the announcement of its news subscription service described as "Netflix for News".

Though products like the AirPods 2, a new iPad Mini, and even the elusive AirPower are expected to debut during the first half of this year, unfortunately this event likely won't be where they'll make an appearance.

According to the unnamed sources, however, March 25 is a tentative date, as participating publishers are displeased with the proposed revenue-sharing terms. On Feb 12 The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is planning to collect about 50% of the US$10 (RM40.67) monthly subscription fee for themselves with the other half being "divv[ied] up among participating publishers according to how many people read their stories".

Additionally this spring, Apple is expected to launch a TV and movie service; with this, Apple Music, and the forthcoming news subscription, a single user would be able to access massive libraries of tunes, news, movies, and TV series for just about US$50 (RM203) per month if the video streaming service costs around US$30 (RM122) as predicted.

While the news event is unofficially scheduled for March 25, don't be surprised if it gets pushed back in the event that publishers and Apple renegotiate revenue-sharing terms. – AFP Relaxnews