A woman is shown typing on an iPad Pro keyboard, one of several Apple products and services that are … [+] getting updates soon.
Apple
Unless you follow tech journalism and in particular the Apple
AAPL
blogosphere pretty regularly, Apples big Spring Loaded product event earlier this week the iPhone makers first virtual event of 2021 probably escaped your notice. The vast majority of Apple device owners, I dare say, are aware of big moves in the Apple ecosystem only on the periphery, such as after downloading the obligatory software update and being greeted at times by a whole new experience of interacting with your apps and the mobile operating software. Mainstream journalists are no different. You might see newspaper reporters in your city sticking iPhones in front of a city official to record their comments in a press scrum, or a local news anchor glancing at script notes during tonights broadcast on an iPad, but they probably couldnt tell you which iOS software version their device is currently running. Or what Apple will announce at this years WWDC. And for a good reason theyre busy professionals, with a flood of deadlines coming at them every single day.
Make no mistake, though. Ready or not, some massive changes are coming for Apple device owners, and Tuesdays Spring Loaded event heralded a few that journalists and news publishers, especially, should pay attention to. Well group them into three categories, below. First up, lets talk about what Apple is doing with iOS 14.5, the new version of its mobile OS that should be out on Monday or Tuesday of next week.
iOS 14.5
The big news here is something that Facebook has been quaking in its boots about for months. There are always tons of tweaks, updates, and new features that arrive with each new iOS release, but theres one in particular within iOS 14.5 thats garnered an outsized share of attention. Starting next week, iOS app developers will no longer be allowed to track their users around different apps and the internet with targeted ads unless the user expressly grants that permission. Apple is calling this feature App Tracking Transparency, and this will, needless to say, affect advertisers as well as news publishers. Regardless of whether or not news publishers benefit from the ability to target potential new subscribers with personalized ads, the maker of the most popular mobile device platform in the US is now all but slamming that door closed for them. Opening that door back up will need to be done by the subscribers themselves, but you can see why app developers and many of those apps are for news publishers are a bit worried. How many people do you know would agree to let themselves be tracked, given the option?
A new generation of iPad Pros
Apples top-of-the-line tablet computers have always been sleek productivity beasts. Perfect for journalists working in the field, for example. On April 30, Apple is opening up orders for its new iPad Pro that runs on Apples powerful, blazing-fast M1 chip the same chip thats in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which will be available starting late next month, will start at $1,099 (an 11-inch model will start at $799), and that larger model will also boast an upgraded display with 10,000 Mini LEDs which Apple is calling its Liquid Retina XDR display. Both models will also be especially great for any video calls you have to do for your reporting or broadcasts. Theyll each have 12MP ultrawide cameras that automatically track you during the video call. Photo and video editing, word processing for when youre writing stories or scripts in the field the iPad is now better than ever for tasks like these.
Podcasts
Next up, lets talk about the changes coming to Apples Podcasts app and what theyll mean for news publishers, potentially. For many publishers, podcasts are an important part of the editorial content (and audience retention and engagement) strategies. Think of something like The Daily, from The New York TimesNYT
which is actually one of the top podcasts, period, among all Apple Podcasts. Right at the outset of this weeks event, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted that Apple is preparing to launch the biggest update ever to its Podcasts app. The changes include the ability for creators (and, by extension, news publishers) to begin charging subscription prices to followers of the podcast. Apple is calling this update Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, and each creator will be able to set their own price for their own mix of benefits, which could include things like ad-free listening, access to extra content, and early or exclusive access to new series. These changes roll out in May, and Apple is apparently already working with news publishers on this Podcasts update, including NPR, The Los Angeles Times, and The Athletic, according to Apples announcement.
