Most of Apple Inc.’s success comes from their hardware, which is upgraded each year to ensure profits keep rolling in and their customers hooked. Apple has released a new operating system iOS9, and they are wading into the business of online news distribution. Apple will be competing with Snapchat, Facebook, Google and other rivals directly. The new operating system comes with an app called Apple News, which contains content from different publishers such as Vox Media, Time Inc., and CNN. The new application will also have The Los Angeles Times.
This new application has been released at a time when most people consume online news on their tablets and smartphones rather than desktops or laptops. This has brought about a requirement to tailor stories to mobile platforms to attract a growing share of digital advertising. Instead of going directly to the publisher’s mobile app or website, Apple servers will host the news app directly. This will mean that it will help load stories faster and at the same time ensuring that Apple remains the content’s moderator for advertising.
Apple is also working on making sure that users can be able to download ad blockers for its Safari mobile internet browser. The advertising industry finds this not to be such a good idea, but Apple want to make web surfing cleaner and faster. This could be a disastrous for Google since 90% of its revenues are derived from online ads. Apple will, however, continue to rake in profits from their hardware and the introduction of products like Apple News continue to give their users reasons to stick to their gadgets.
Ad revenue could be significant and mobile advertising is expected to double in value, and the growth of all digital advertising is also expected to grow. However, it is predicted that the new Apple’s news app is not expected to gain substantial power with advertisers until it gains at least 10 million users. If Apple is able to get enough people to subscribe, then advertisers will dive in. Apple is hoping that a great number of leading publishers will make the app compelling and gain more subscribers. Apple is not known for being content creators, but they look for experts who can do that for them and this is the very much DNA of Apple. Apple combines great hardware and great content to drive sales.