NEW YORK: The Apple News team is apparently beginning to review News Publisher application submissions. Publishers were (and are) invited to submit their feeds for inclusion in the new Apple News app which will be launched with the release of iOS 9 in September. This afternoon TNM received an email from Apple simply acknowledging that Apple would be reviewing the site’s application (there is not much to review as it only includes some bits of information such as contact details plus at least one RSS feed address).
The company has also begun to send unsolicited emails to some publishers of feeds it wishes to include at launch. These publishers have not submitted applications through the Apple News support site.
Apple clearly wants to make sure there is a lot content within the system before launch, but one blogger has made a big deal out of the terms sent by Apple which require him to opt out if he doesn’t like them.
Oh well, the kurfuffle is reminicent of the early days of iBooks Author when some misread the terms and conditions of the software, interpreting them to mean that Apple would own their work. Apple quickly adjusted the language in the iBooks End-User License Agreement and that was the end of the controversy. Look for that to be the case here.
Publishers who want to submit their RSS feeds for review can visit the Apple Publisher page where they complete a short application which includes at least one RSS feed address they wish to use.
