NYT gives Apple its 30% and adds in-app subscriptions to iPad app

The New York times has added in-app subscription options to its iPad app, just one day after the deadline for apps to comply with Apple’s new subscription rules, reports MacStories. The rules, although modified from their original form, still specify that Apple will receive 30% of the revenue from any new subscriptions signed up for from within the app.

Initially, the new subscription rules were much more strict, but a modification of the rules removed the requirement for existing publishing services to offer in-app subscriptions at all. This meant that new users could only be gained from the publisher’s website, but also that Apple would not be taking its cut of the new subscribers.

With its inclusion of in-app purchases directly in the app, the NYT is going to be giving Apple its 30%, the new cost of doing business on the App Store for publishers.

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When the new rules were announced, the rumored date for compliance was June 30th, yesterday. The NYT joins other publications like The Daily, Wired, Hearst Publications and Time Inc. in offering in-app subscriptions. So far it looks as if we’re not going to see the mass exodus of publishers that was predicted initially.

One publication, the Financial Times, has opted out of the subscription policies, instead offering a web app to its readers, sidestepping the new rules. So far the FT app has been downloaded over 200,000 times.