Apple announced a new subscription service for publishers in its App Store. Building on News Corp's recent launch of the iPad newspaper The Daily, the service will support other subscription services such as magazines, newspapers, video and music, on Apple devices. Subscriptions purchased from the App Store will be sold using the same App Store billing system for mobile apps and in-app purchases. Publishers set the price and length of subscription, and customers pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged based on their chosen length of commitment. Customers can review and manage all of their subscriptions from their personal account page, including canceling the automatic renewal of a subscription. Apple processes all payments, keeping the same 30 percent share that it does for other in-app Purchases. Apple said publishers will still be able to sell digital subscriptions through their own websites, but should charge the same price or less as on the App Store. In addition, publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a website, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app.
