Texture, a monthly subscription service that allows access to over 200 of the world’s most demanded and widely read magazines for $9.99 per month, has been acquired by Apple. In 2016, it was selected by the App Store’s editorial team for the annual Best Of selections, which points out the most innovative apps for Apple users.
The app Texture started out in 2010, and now it has expanded to be a more attractive and prone-to-download app in the hands of Apple. It provides simple browsing controls for users that are pretty similar to Netflix’s, to which the app is continuously compared by subscribers.
What is Texture and how does it work?
Texture was developed based on the same principles as Netflix. It tackles the problem of physicality when it comes actually possessing the issue the reader desires, and how this affects the practicality of the reader when it has time to read magazines, it presents features to alleviate the issue problem thus providing as well access to past editions of magazines.
The digital newsstand is a service that, despite offering widely demanded magazines like Rolling Stone, also displays Top Stories, giving a nice boost to underground journalism regardless of the magazine the article is displayed in and providing an alternative filter for clickbait news.
Texture is certain to become, according to many, a future platform to be targeted by journalists around the world.
Texture is basically what everyone thought Apple was going to do to save publishing with the ‘Apple tablet’. And they never did it; Newsstand was a different presentation of app folder and clearly a flop. https://t.co/4PljciKMYp
— Benjamin Mayo (@bzamayo) March 12, 2018
The Texture features that attracted Apple
The app presents several tabs like the My Library section, where users can find the Saved Stories tab and downloaded magazines made available for offline reading. The Saved Stories tab works similar to a Pinterest board, allowing readers to store collections of Favorite Magazines that can be saved.
Once users are signed up and ready to go, they will be presented with a home screen with a selection of top reads. This can be found at the Highlights section, including “New and Noteworthy” where the entire top reads will be displayed, letting users get to know new and different editorials to expand their interests as well.
Like Netflix for magazines but, more importantly, quality coverage from generally trusted sources made more accessible through digital technology. Key, given how social/web giants have suffered in news:
Apple to acquire digital magazine service Texturehttps://t.co/TVY0ffrq7b
— Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) March 12, 2018
Apple’s move for Texture
Apple has been fulfilling the goal of expanding their services revenue. From Apple Music to Texture being integrated into the Apple News app, the company has been optimizing its monetary rate in services revenue.
Apple has stated several times that it is a company that encourages freedom of speech and entertainment, which leads to the acquisition of Texture. In this case, Texture’s CEO has pointed out his excitement in their involvement with Apple.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior VP of internet software services, said:
“We’re excited Texture will join Apple, along with an impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world’s leading publishers […] We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users.”
Source: Apple
