It’s been an interesting day for user number stories out of Apple over the weekend. Early Sunday morning it was reported that Apple Music has reached 10 million paying subscribers, or half way to what Spotify currently claims, and a story published late Sunday night includes an interesting confession from Apple’s services guy Eddy Cue. The Apple exec told the WSJ that the company hasn’t been accurately counting the number of users actively using its new Apple News app.
The lower-than-reality numbers have been shared with publishers that use the number to make decisions about using supporting the platform and optionally advertising through it.
Despite the glitch, Mr. Cue said Apple is pleased with the product so far. He said most feedback from publishers has been positive. Usage has “scaled very fast…but it doesn’t mean we don’t all want more,” he said.
While the admission of an error in the process is a bit odd, it partially puts Apple in a positive light as Apple News user numbers that may have not impressed partners can positively be revised once the tracking mistake is resolved. Three months ago when the tracking issue was presumably not known, Tim Cook confidently reported that iOS 9’s new Apple News app had drawn 40 million users during its first month as it expanded beyond the USA to the UK and Australia.
In the meantime, let us know in our poll and in the comments below whether or not you actually use the new Apple News app introduced in iOS 9 as a replacement for the now retired Newsstand system:
