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Apple to release iOS 4.3 next month? Subscription billing to be a main feature?

By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 2:24 AM

Apple’s newest version of their iOS operating system that runs on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, came out less than 50 hours ago, and there’s already a rumor going around that another update, version 4.3, is going to be released quite soon. Earlier this month we reported about “The Daily”, a secret project between Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch (pictured above) to get people interested in paying for news again. French Apple fan site Consomac has already discovered the application icon (pictured below) that will be used.

What’s does that have to do with iOS 4.3? It’s going to let users subscribe to applications. That’s a crucial ingredient if you want to build a publication and need a constant stream of income. Many people have been saying that Apple should do to newspapers and magazines what they did to music. With iOS 4.3, if these rumors are to be believed, then it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. There’s already a date for when this update will be made available: December 13th.

The bigger question here is do people want to pay for news anymore? Thanks to the internet news organizations all around the world are struggling to stay on top. People would rather read a blog post written by someone they don’t know who works for an organization which may or may not be credible than shell out the price of a cup of coffee on a set of bound pages with color ink on them. It’s a bloody shame, and I absolutely love print media, but the masses have spoken. They want to get an update the instant something happens, even though it has zero impact on their daily life. They want to listen to biased news, arguing for their views and against anything seen as different.

It’s hell, but it’s the world we’re living in.

[Via: Mac Stories]

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.