Sunday, September 19, 2010

Apple to the Rescue of Newspapers?

Silicon Valley-based Mercury News is reporting that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may be planning a subscription service for newspapers. This could be music to the ears of publishers such as the New York Times (NYSE:NYT), Gannet (NYSE:GCI) and the Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) who have long struggled to keep interest alive in the print editions of their papers as more and more news consumers moved to online media. No specific newspapers or details were revealed, but the report noted that Apple could take 30% of app revenue and 40% of advertising revenue from those apps. This may be a sticking point as the reported also noted that publishers are not pleased with Apple's terms and would prefer to just pay Apple a fee rather than a cut of revenue. Mercury News is also reporting that Apple may allow subscribers to opt-in to allow personal information to be shared with publishers for advertising purposes. SmarTrend is bullish on shares of Apple and our subscribers were alerted to buy on September 8, 2010 at $261.75. The stock has risen 5.7% since the alert was issued.

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