When daily newspapers and magazines began making the transition from print to online, the question of how and when readers would pay for their content started raising questions.  But once content began streaming using applications on mobile devices, particularly tablets, the concept of subscriptions took a whole new direction.

Now Apple, the trendsetter in the application market, has been trying to implement a policy where all subscriptions must go through its online marketplace, iTunes for all subscription sales. Anything currently available on iTunes that includes magazines, newspapers, videos and music is now offered on the subscription model on the site as well.

According to a recent Yahoo News article, Apple (News - Alert) receives a 30 percent cut from such sales; however, if customers decide to purchase the application through a Web browser instead of iTunes, Apple doesn’t receive any percentage of the sales whatsoever.

You may already be familiar with The Daily, a digital newspaper that is exclusive to the iPad but requires the user to pay a subscription fee to access the content. The Daily was the first example of Apple’s subscription policy rollout, a policy it plans to implement on all related content moving forward.

"All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app," Steve Jobs (News - Alert) said in a press release.

Application users who are not inclined to use iTunes may argue against the new subscription policy, however, a large enough percentage of application buyers do use iTunes to purchase their content, therefore, the number of customers who refuse to adhere to the policy probably won’t make much of a difference in the numbers. It should be interesting to see how the new subscription policy affects iTunes sales, if at all.  

Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca