INTERNATIONAL - Apple is reportedly planning to launch an upgraded version of its News app that will include a premium service offering access to dozens of subscription magazines.
Just last month, the firm acquired magazine app Texture, which gives subscribers unlimited access to more than 200 magazines for $10 a month, including Forbes, Esquire, GC, Wired, People, The Atlantic, and National Geographic.
Now, the firm has cut roughly 20 Texture staffers and is working to integrate the app’s technology and remaining employees with Apple News ahead of launching its own subscription service within the next year, according to Bloomberg.
While Apple previously offered magazines and newspapers in its Newsstand app, these were not lumped together under a single subscription.
Instead, users had to pay each individual fee as normal. And, the same goes for Apple News.
The new report from Bloomberg suggests Apple is working to launch a subscription package that would include numerous publications, just like the Texture app did.
Each of the publishers would get a cut of the revenue.
Apple announced in mid-March that it was buying the digital magazine subscription service Texture.
The iPhone maker did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy Texture from its owners -- publishers Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Rogers Media and global investment firm KKR.
'We're excited Texture will join Apple, along with an impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world's leading publishers,' Apple senior vice president of internet software and service Eddy Cue said at the time.
'We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users.'
The Texture application launched in 2012, the product of a joint venture created two years earlier.
'We could not imagine a better home or future for the service,' Texture chief executive John Loughlin said.