Subscription news and magazine service Texture will be ending its services on Tuesday, May 28. The move happens after the announcement of multiple Apple services at the recent Apple Keynote, including the Apple News+ service.
Texture is an app that offers 200+ magazines including Vox, Vulture, LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
The digital magazine subscription space has a few other names, which have gained a bit of spotlight due to Apple’s News+ announcement. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, Zinio, Magzter, and Readly are a few services that offer similar magazines with multiple paid tiers of digital content.
Following Apple’s acquisition on Texture in 2018, the service was available on Apple’s iOS devices and Android devices. The price point was $9.99 USD per month after a 7-day trial, down from $14.99 prior to the acquisition.
The impending shutdown of Texture raises a few questions for Android subscribers of the service. While Apple’s Keynote services announcement left a lot of questions regarding pricing in the air, there are no details about an Apple News+ service or a non-Apple offering.
Although unlikely, certain Apple suites and apps such as iTunes have been available on other platforms with limited support within Apple’s customer service scope. This puts digital readers in a precarious position, and time will tell whether this will urge digital reader subscribers to switch to Apple products or to see Apple as problem in their shopping cart.
The digital magazine subscription niche is relatively new, with Texture (formerly known as Next Issue) launching in 2012 and Magzter launching in 2011. Digital subscription revenue has been steadily disrupting the market, and has been displacing digital advertising as a major revenue stream for businesses.
In May of 2018, the New York Times reported an increase in total revenue, largely in thanks to a 25.5% increase from digital subscriptions. As a growing marketplace, the News+ service and the upcoming Texture changes could affect how Apple and internet users at large view the digital subscription business model.
Dil Bole Oberoi
