Apple News won't let advertisers track users or monitor what they read
- Apple has announced its subscription news service, Apple News Plus.
- Apple won't let advertisers track users on it, and it won't monitor what users read.
- It's part of Apple's broader pro-privacy strategy.
Apple has finally announcedits long-awaited subscription news service, Apple News Plus - and it's putting an emphasis on privacy.
On Monday, the Cupertino tech giant held a press conference to announce a slew of new products and updates as it attempts to diversify its offerings beyond the iPhone. Key among these is Apple News Plus - a $9.99/month subscription service that gives users access to 300 magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Sports Illustrated, as well as newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and The LA Times.
Apple has long tried to differentiate itself from competitors like Google with a strong focus on privacy, and this is also true for the new news service.
Apple says it won't track what users read. And "we don't allow advertisers to track you," CEO Tim Cook said - bucking the trend in digital media for extensive third-party tracking of users' web activity and reading habits.
"What you read about on Apple News will not follow you across the web," Cook added.
Apple said its News Plus service will batch-download groups of magazines to users' devices, and then, using on-device systems, try to predict and recommend new magazines and articles users.
Apple News Plus has run into controversy ahead of its launch, however, over reports that Apple has demanded 50% of all revenue generated from publishers - an even greater percentage than the 30% cut it takes from apps in its App Store.