Why Apple created its News app

Apple’s Eddie Cue, speaking to CNN’s Brian Stelter:

“We’ve only created the apps that we think everyone uses every day… We really wanted to create a single app that all customers could go to, to read all their news — no matter what they are interested in, no matter what topics, no matter what publications they want to follow — and get that experience that they’re used to with our products, where it looks beautiful, it’s really easy to read and yet it provides all the content available around the world.”

So, yes, they really do want to be the one single front end to your news-reading experience. And they do highlight the key elements of newspapers missing from the web: discovery and browsing of unexpectedly interesting news stories. News certainly has the potential to deliver that – if it gets better at its algorithmic curation.

Also of note is the fact that Cue’s definition of “news” might not match ours:

“We thought of things from, you know, even church newsletters to a stamp club… A lot of those organizations today still print and mail, which is even more expensive.”

Niche titles and small organisations which don’t have access to app development resources can get themselves into Apple News – and allow their members or audience to follow – a neat idea I hadn’t considered, and which could drive use of the app.

Here’s the full interview: