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Apple unveils subscription service in App Store

Apple launched a subscription service at the App Store for magazines, newspapers, videos, and music bought through its App Store.

In a move that goes a long way to addressing concerns of many in the magazine and newspaper sectors, Apple said today that publishers will be allowed to set the price and the length of the subscription term. The processing of payments will be Apple’s job and handled within the App Store. Apple will collect 30 percent of the revenue.

Our philosophy is simple,Steve Jobs wrote in a statement. “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.

All we require,” Jobs continued, “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 Apple iPad has proven to be a popular media-consumption device and magazine and newspaper executives are typically excited about the tablet’s appeal as an e-reader. But to get their content on the iPad, some in the newspaper and magazine sectors are dissatisfied with the money Apple once offered–a 30 percent cut forever. They were also unhappy with the amount of control Apple would exercise over subscriptions and user data.

But this latest offer from Apple Inc is more publisher friendly, said Chuck McCullagh, a former senior vice president with the Magazine Publishers Association of America.

Apple should become a significant channel and this might reduce pain [for publishers],” McCullagh told CNET. “If Apple brings a customer to app it gets 30 percent. When publisher brings new or existing subscriber, Apple gets nothing. That is an advance.

But McCullagh, who is now a consultant and advises magazines on their digital strategies, also still sees some sticking points. Apple’s requirement that publishers must offer the same subscription for the app as it does out of it, could “bump into the common publisher practice of selling subscriptions at different prices across [distribution] channel’s,” McCullagh said. Some of those channels include the publisher’s Web site, direct mail and newsstands.

Apple said this is the same digital-subscription billing service that the company recently launched with The Daily app, created by News Corp. for the Apple iPad, In that case as with the latest announcement, Apple is giving subscribers the option to provide personal information, such as name and e-mail address, to publishers. This won’t meet the needs of the publishers, McCullagh said, adding that publishers don’t want third parties overseeing their relationship with readers.

Apple said that the relationship between the publisher and the App Store isn’t exclusive. Publishers can sell subscriptions on their own site or offer free access to existing customers, Subscriptions can be weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, biannual, or annual.

Publishers must provide their own authentication process within the app for subscribers who have signed up for service outside the App Store, according to Apple.

Chuck McCullagh is the father of CNET.com reporter Declan McCullagh.

Rumour: Apple to expand iPhone 5 screen to 4 inches?

Will the iPhone 5 feature a larger 4-inch screen?

Following persistent rumours of plans for a smaller, cheaper Apple iPhone nano, the latest Apple rumour this week is that the Cupertino-based tech giant is planning to release an iPhone 5 with a larger, 4-inch screen.

Details of Apple’s next gen model reportedly leaked from component suppliers via Digitimes suggesting that Apple will release a larger-screened iPhone in order to compete with the growing threat from Android in the 4-to-7-inch smartphone market, such as Samsung’s’ Galaxy S and Google’s Nexus S.

We need a bigger screen

That’s according to component suppliers, who told DigiTimes that the production lines for Apple’s next gen iPhone have begun testing.

The component suppliers noted that the production lines for Apple’s next generation iPhone have begun testing, and Apple is interesting (sic) in expanding the screen size to 4-inches to support the tablet PC market as the vendor only has a 9.7-inch iPad in the market.” – Digitimes anonymous source.

“What is worth noticing is that Dell has re-defined the market position of the Dell Streak 5 – which was originally focused on the tablet PC market – as a super phone. The Dell Streak 5 uses a 5-inch panel which stands in the gray area between tablet PC and handset segments and indicates there is an overlap in the market for 4- to 7-inch panels.
iPhone 4 currently features a 3.5-inch widescreen touch-controlled ‘Retina’ display, with Apple reportedly looking to increase the size of the screen by 0.5 inches to compete with the numerous other 4-inch touchscreen phones on the market.

Via Digitimes.

EastEnders: Work with Comic Relief. (Spoiler)

Please Note; this post is a EastEnders spoiler; if you don’t want to know details of future storylines you may decide it’s best to stop reading!

As part of an upcoming storyline EastEnders is working alongside Comic Relief to tackle a problem that is faced by young women in the UK today – sexual exploitation.

Over the coming weeks, with her stepmother Bianca absent and with no-one else around, Whitney’s life takes a downward spiral. Alone and and vulnerable she falls for the charms of an unscrupulous man who ultimately sexually exploits her for his own financial gain.

In line with it’s long tradition of tackling social issues, EastEnders has been working alongside Comic Relief since last year to devise a storyline that explores a growing problem that faces many young women in the UK. The issue is one that the charity has been working on for a number of years, both in terms of funding projects that help those who have been subjected to this devastating experience and raising awareness of the issue.

The storyline will culminate in a special ten minute episode which is being featured as part of Comic Relief’s Night of TV on Friday 18th March.

Gilly Green, Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief, said:
It is vital that we continue to alert young people to the dangers if we are to stop them being exploited and the opportunity to work with EastEnders will make a huge audience aware of this issue. We have been working with the Eastenders script writers and some of the young women from projects we support to ensure the story reflects the reality of young people caught up in sexual exploitation.

Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive of Comic Relief, said:
We have worked over many years with EastEnders in all kinds of ways. It’s been a real pleasure this year to work together on a piece of serious drama, in the best traditions of public service, which will highlight an important issue and also, because it occurs on the night of Comic Relief, actually help raise crucial funds to help young women caught up in it.

source: Official EastEnders Blog

Stacey Branning – does she die?!

Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) on roof of the new Queen Vic!

It looks like Stacey Branning is about to kiss goodbye to Eastenders in a death plunge from the roof of The Queen Vic from this snap doesn’t it? But does she jump? Does she fall? Is she pushed? Is she persuaded to back away from the edge? Soooo… many questions!

*Dermot O’Leary voice* 8pm tomorrow night people. 8pm. And all will be revealed.

It’s a humdinger of an Eastenders Christmas Special, that’s for sure though, with Stacey Branning (played by Lacey Turner) being backed into a corner – or rooftop, rather – by a vengeful Janine Malloy (played by Charlie Brooks), out for blood after her husband Ryan runs off to be with Stacey. Janine threatening to reveal that Stacey Branning killed Archie Mitchell last Christmas!

It’s the same rooftop, of course, that Stacey’s own husband, Bradley, fell to his death from back in February, during the live episode, when we first found out that Stacey was Archie Mitchell’s killer. And now here we are again above Albert Square, with single mum Stacey teetering on the edge. But does she die?

Well, as you already know, 22-year-old Lacey Turner does leave Eastenders tomorrow night, but whether it’s in handcuffs or a coffin… you’re just going to have to watch the Eastenders Christmas Day Special to find out. Seriously, we couldn’t ruin a Christmas surprise like that for you now, could we?

Source: heatworld.com, By HeartWorld.

DailyBooth Gets An iPhone App Worthy Of Your Gaze!

When DailyBooth finally released an iPhone app back in July, it made a lot of sense. After all, the iPhone 4 had just been released and it featured a front-facing camera for the first time — the perfect tool for a service which asks you to take pictures of yourself. Unfortunately, while the idea was right, DailyBooth’s first iPhone app just wasn’t very good. So the completely redid it. And I’m happy to report that version 2 is finally one worthy of your gaze.

While the first app was a basic way to scan DailyBooth and upload simple pictures of yourself, version 2 includes many more of the service’s core features. This includes a live feed, profile views, activity views, messages, following/follower views, friend finding, and “ghosting”.

The first and the last features are really cool. The live feed automatically refreshes as new DailyBooth pictures come in. Not too many iPhone apps utilize this live view, but it works for DailyBooth as pictures are quick scan items — and they come in slightly slower than text-based messages.

The other excellent feature is “ghosting”. A big part of DailyBooth is looking at someone’s picture then mimicking it in the replies. The ghosting feature allows you to easily do this as it shows you a slightly transparent version of the picture your trying to mimic, so you can line yourself up with it.

While DailyBooth could technically be lumped into the latest craze of picture taking apps, CEO Brian Pokorny likes to distinguish it as a “front of the phone” app versus the others which are “back of the phone” apps. Obviously, he’s talking about the camera there.

It is interesting just how DailyBooth users utilize pictures to communicate through images of themselves, rather than of other things. And now they finally have a solid app to do it with. You can find the new app here in the App Store.

by; techcrunch.