Apple brings subscriptions to the App Store
Pay for content weekly, monthly, yearly etc
Apple is now letting developers offer recurring subscriptions to in-app purchases, like magazine and newspaper issues.
The service was first introduced by American-only iPad mag The Daily. Now, all developers get access to that functionality.
Publishers set the price and length of subscription (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly, or yearly), and then customers can choose exactly how long they want be a subscriber for, and are automatically charged based on the length of their commitment. You can manage your subscriptions through iTunes.
Apple will take its usual 30 per cent share for all subscriptions made through in-app purchases. Publishers can offer subscriptions outside of the app, and the publisher keeps 100 percent of the takings, but there’s a catch.
“Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app.”
Right now, it seems to be targeted directly at magazine, newspaper, video, and music publishers. But its available to “all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store”, so presumably game developers can get in on the action, too.
Would you pay a subscription to get access to an iPhone game?
