The value of Apple’s free News app shrank just a little on Monday after the New York Times said it would pull the few articles it made available for the service. More broadly, The Times’ decision suggests why Apple may face headwinds in its efforts to make its giant services business even bigger.
The Times didn’t like the fact that readers had to stay within the Apple News app to read its stories, or that it had to share revenue from any subscriptions that came out of Apple News. The Times is big enough not to need Apple. Its attitude is a little reminiscent of Netflix, which some time ago stopped letting people use the iOS app to subscribe, largely because it didn’t want to share subscription revenue. Netflix is also big enough not to need Apple.
