Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has announced the acquisition of Texture, an iPad, iPhone, Android, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) tablet app that brings over 200 magazine titles to the fingertips of users. Consumers value the app for making available both old and new issues of popular magazines like Vanity Fair, Vogue, Rolling Stones, and Cosmopolitan, all for a monthly fee of $9.99 USD. This virtual newsstand is owned by Next Issue Media, a new joint venture between powerhouse publishers Condé Nast, Meredith, and the partners Rogers Media and Hearst Magazines, with the private equity firm KKR (NYSE: KKR). Apple did not disclose the price of the subscription service deal.
This is not the first time Apple has attempted to integrate e-magazines into its service lineup. In 2011, the company housed an app called Newsstand, but later replaced it with the more comprehensive Apple News service. This March deal follows two other recent notable acquisitions for Apple. In December of 2017, Apple bought the London-based music identification app Shazam for $400 million USD. In January, they purchased the Canadian development service app BuddyBuild. Texture is another example of Apple's push to invest in services and platforms that focus particularly on popular media.
Texture's media efforts are led by Services Executive Eddy Cue, who recently spoke to the South by Southwest Conference crowd in Texas about the deal. "We're excited Texture will join Apple, along with an impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world's leading publishers," Cue said. "We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users." He noted that Texture has long been "beloved" by iPad users, and that the app has become "a pretty decent player in a short amount of time."
The Financial Times referred to Texture as a "Netflix for magazines" (NASDAQ: NFLX). However, the business model more closely resembles the video streaming service Hulu because of its joint ownership by many traditional broadcasters. Texture will continue to be available in Apple, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Amazon app stores. Though it is not yet clear how much annual revenue the magazine app will bring in, it is fair to say that it will help Apple move closer to reaching their goal of $50 billion USD by 2021.