The Apple News+ subscription service, which brings together hundreds of popular magazines and leading newspapers from around the world, is now available to Australian readers.
Apple News+ presents access to the best and most relevant publications to meet any range of interests from major Australian outlets for $14.99 per month.
“Apple News+ offers hundreds of the world’s most popular publications, all discoverable through personalised and curated recommendations,” said Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News.
“The quality of journalism, the beautiful photography, the stunning live covers and custom-designed articles in this collection are second to none. We think readers in Australia will be delighted with the offering, and we are proud to support the work of our newest publisher partners.”
All Apple News users in Australia, the UK, US and Canada can continue to enjoy the free news experience within the app on iPhone, iPad and Mac, including access Top Stories, Trending Stories and a personalised feed of articles.
Local titles include The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, The Advertiser, Vogue, Australian Women’s Health, Elle, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, GQ, Australian Men’s Health, Delicious and Australian Geographic.
The international newspapers and magazine in the service includes such titles as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, The Times UK, The Sunday Times, Empire, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Grazia and Hello!.’
“Apple News+ is an exciting evolution of the immersive print media experience,” said Sarah-Belle Murphy, executive general manager of Digital Operations and Publishing at Bauer Media.
“The new subscription service offers enormous opportunity to reach new audiences in an elevated digital environment.”
“The ability to reach millions of readers seamlessly through Apple’s ecosystem presents an innovative future for both magazines and the subscription model. We are looking forward to this next exciting step.”
Apple News+ features richly designed layouts, animated magazine covers, vivid photography and bold typography optimised for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Subscribers will be able to enjoy cover-to-cover access to their favourite magazines, which are also available for offline reading, and receive notifications when a new issue is available.
When speaking to The Australian, News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson welcomed the partnership, while also taking aim at Apple’s rival Google.
“Apple has acted positively, honourably and decisively to change the digital landscape, while other gatekeepers, such as Google, prefer hype and hypocrisy,” Thomson said.
“We should be clear from the offset – no one has damaged journalism and Australians’ ability to receive trusted, reliable information more than the big tech platforms.”
“Apple clearly understands the importance of journalism and journalists and that the content originator should be rewarded fairly. Our partnership with Apple makes commercial and strategic sense.”
Thomson’s comments follow News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller’s scathing critique of Google and Facebook on Monday, where he claimed the tech giants as the biggest single cause of damage to Australian media.
