Subscriptions come to iTunes

Apple has announced that it is finally offering a magazine and newspaper subscription plan through iTunes—but some publishers might be nervous about the terms. Apple's approach, which requires publishers to pay the company a 30 percent share of the subscription fee (as it does with other apps), could mean either higher costs for consumers or a move by publishers away from iTunes to the less expensive (i.e., free) Google Android platform.

Under Apple's terms, publishers can also sell subscriptions on their own Web sites without having to pay Apple, but they can't link to those offers from within their apps. And when they do sell non-iTunes subscriptions, these must cost the same or more as those sold on iTunes.

iTunes subscriptions have an upside for consumers, who until now have been paying for single issues of magazines on the iPad—that's generally a more costly approach than a subscription. The plan covers subscriptions not only to magazines and newspapers, but also to video and music services. So Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Rhapsody, for example, are also covered under the new model.

Apple didn't announce that it had signed on any publishers, although the company is already using a subscription model for The Daily, a News Corp. publication that launched a couple of weeks ago.

—Donna Tapellini