14 DAY TRIAL // Minutes ago, Apple announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store, including magazines, newspapers, video, and music.
The announcement doesn’t come as a surprise. It is the same digital subscription billing service that Apple recently launched with The Daily app in collaboration with News Corp.
In a press release, Apple explains that subscriptions purchased from within the App Store will be sold using the same App Store billing system that has been used to buy billions of apps and In-App Purchases.
As before, publishers set the price and length of subscription (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly).
Customers can then pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged based on their chosen length of commitment (weekly, monthly, etc.).
Furthermore, iTunes Subscriptions allow customers to review and manage all of their subscriptions from their personal account page, including canceling the automatic renewal of a subscription.
All payments are processed by Apple.
The company will keep the same 30 percent share that it does today for other In-App Purchases.
“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,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
“All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.”
The CEO added, “We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”
Publishers who use Apple’s subscription service can also sell digital subscriptions on their websites, or can choose to provide free access to existing subscribers, the Mac maker said.
Apple, however, requires that the same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app, should a publisher choose to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app.
Furthermore, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app, Apple said.
“Protecting customer privacy is a key feature of all App Store transactions. Customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with their name, email address and zip code when they subscribe,” the official report reads.
“The use of such information will be governed by the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s.”
“Publishers may seek additional information from App Store customers provided those customers are given a clear choice, and are informed that any additional information will be handled under the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s,” the Cupertino giant clarified.