Apple recently admitted that it has been mismanaging its Apple News application, which launched in iOS 9 and allows users to read news stories from their favorite outlets.
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Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services told the Wall Street Journal that a software glitch in News reading app has altered the number, showing numbers lowers than reality.
However the “glitch” that has resulted inaccurate reporting of user information for Apple News indicates odd management policies in development, and the extension of the beta phase which the product is now in.
Why this matters: The News app is easy to set up and use, but people already have so many other options, from read-it-later services like Pocket to Facebook’s Instant Articles and Snapchat Discover.
However, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple undercounted the number of people viewing stories on Apple News. He added that the company could not explain how the problem occurred or give a window as to when it would be fixed. “We don’t know what the right number is”, adding that Apple believed it was better to underestimate rather than overestimate the numbers.
Apple unveiled Apple News at the Worldwide Developers Conference past year.
Cue reiterated Cook’s statement that 40 million people have tried the Apple News app, but he didn’t elaborate on whether these users were returning or give any insight into the amount of traffic on the platform. On Apple News publishers have the option to sell their own ads into the app and keep all of the revenue generated from them. If they take the option to let Apple flog the ads, Apple takes 30 percent, meaning the news vendors get only 70 percent of not enough.
While publishers don’t pay to post content to the app, the underreported readership numbers may have hurt partners’ ability to sell advertising and set the correct ad rates, the paper reported.
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“The traffic has been modest relative to the enormous install base of iOS devices”, Business Insider president Julie Hansen is quoted as saying. After launching in the United States in September, Apple News expanded to the U.K. and Australia in October with the launch of iOS 9.1.
