Apple Has No Idea How Many People Use Their News App

Apple has reportedly put a significant amount of resources into their News app, which debuted last year with iOS 9. It’s too bad they have no idea how many people actually use it.

Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, recently told The Wall Street Journal that a software glitch has been causing the company to miscalculate the number of people reading articles in the Apple News service. “We’re in the process of fixing that now, but our numbers are lower than reality,” Cue said. “We don’t know what the right number is.”

Cue made sure to emphasize that it was better to undercount than over count traffic, but either way this incident is just another crack in Apple’s armor. Over the last few years, the company has received a lot of criticism for the instability of their software. Many major voices in the tech industry, including Walt Mossberg, have said Apple’s number one focus in 2016 should be fixing its software.

Despite the glitch, Cue went on to say that so far Apple is overall pleased with Apple News. He also ironically made a point to say that over 40 million people have used the News app since it launched, but given Apple’s error in calculating traffic accurately, it’s hard to trust this number. Add the fact that Apple CEO Tim Cook gave the exact same usage number last October during an Apple earnings call and it’s less believable. Either no one new has used the News app since October or something over at Apple needs to be fixed quick.

This admission by Apple is especially troubling for publishers who rely on the service to make a living. Having accurate traffic information is crucial for publishers when setting advertising rates and allocating their resources. Major publications that have partnered with Apple cannot be happy about this news. I’m sure publishers are frustrated they have been underselling advertisers and I bet advertisers are unhappy about getting wrong information.

Some major publishers, such as Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp, have already expressed frustration with Apple’s News app. “To be frank, I’m disappointed by ad revenue coming in,” he said regarding the News app. Other publishers have said Apple News is neither generating a ton of views or traffic nor providing any useful traffic data.

One of the major draws of the Apple News app for publishers was they retain all proceeds from ads they sell on their own and 70 percent of the revenue for ads sold by Apple. Incorrect traffic information weakens confidence in the system, but if there is one thing we know Apple is capable of, it’s fixing things. The company has dealt with plenty of issues over the years and I imagine this one will be no more than a hiccup. However, it will take some time to rebuild trust in the News app but I’m sure Apple is up to it.

Considering how competitive this market is getting, Apple better rebuild trust sooner rather than later. Apple News is competing with cornerstone news reader apps like Flipboard along with Facebook’s new Instant Articles and Snapchat Discover. Just like with Apple Music, the News app is a preinstalled app with every iPhone so it has an immediately massive reach, but if publishers aren’t confident Apple can provide accurate statistics on traffic data they may pull their content from the service.

Are you using Apple News or is it just another app
hid away in a folder on your iPhone or iPad?
Let us know in the comments below!

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