Apple flips its way into the news cycle

October 22, 2015 11:18

With Apple News arriving on Australian iPhones in the latest software update Simon Canning casts an eye over the new service, and what it means for local publishers.

The arrival of Apple News today, with the support of News, Fairfax, Seven West and a bevy of local and international publishers, heralds the end of a very un-Apple-like way of delivering content.

While supporters of the new news aggregation service have likened it to Apple giving news the iTunes treatment, the experience owes much to the Silicon Valley upstart Flipboard which turned news aggregation into a flowing, flipping magazine-like experience tailor-made for emerging platforms.

Flipboard offered an intuitive reading experience which was easy to navigate, but it relied on users building their own mousetrap, choosing social media and mainstream media feeds to tap into while Flipboard offered occasional content deals with publishers and recommendations based on interests and locality.

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Simon Canning

Simon Canning was Mumbrella's marketing and advertising editor from 2015-2017. In a career spanning journalism and communications over more than 30 years Simon has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon has also worked in media in the US and UK .

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6 COMMENTS

Another Agency 22 Oct 15

So far I like it. But the real test will be in its ability to learn what content I like. That could also be its a achillies heel, as I don’t read something already knowing what’s in it…

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Jen 22 Oct 15

Article fails to mention the privacy settings.

Apple are starting a war on commercial data retention (in the interest of owning commercial data retention).

Bad news for advertisers and publishers who like to monetise audience data. Good news for us people who hate adervertisers and publishers who like to monetise audience data.

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MAttB 22 Oct 15

Can I get this on my android phone?

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NH 22 Oct 15

“Apple are starting a war on commercial data retention (in the interest of owning commercial data retention).”

Yeah that’s just not true.[1][2][3][4]

[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/al.....uman-right
[2] http://fortune.com/2015/09/29/.....ok-google/
[3] http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2.....live-2015/
[4] http://www.apple.com/privacy/

Dave 23 Oct 15

I selected all the main local news outlets to test run it – SMH, news.com, Guardian, ABC, Daily Tele, Daily Mail. But with some 10+ favourites selected, ‘For You’ insists on showing almost exclusively Daily Mail stories. Every time.

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Actually NH 23 Oct 15

Comment #2 is bang on in relation to the Apple News Privacy App and it’s sharing with advertisers and publishers. You can opt-out or reset your advertising identifier. Importantly the identifier can only identify you in relation to an Apple News App user. It cannot aggregate identifiers across platform. So Fairfax, News and others have no understanding as to whether a reader of Apple News, is a Fairfax. News etc subscriber and they can profile across devices and properties.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT205249

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