With the recent launch and success of the iPad-exclusive newspaper, ‘The Daily,’ Apple is allowing all publishers on the App Store a subscription-based in-app purchase plan to generate revenue — Apple still takes 30% profits if the subscription is made through the app as an in-app purchase. However, if these publishers use their own services or websites, they keep all the profits with a catch.

The catch is that, “the cost can be no lower than the price offered inside the app, and publishers are responsible for setting up their own authentication system for those subscribers,” according to the Nieman Journalism Lab.

“Our philosophy is simple — when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” Steve Jobs said in a press release. “All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”

Publishers will be able to set the length of time for subscriptions via in-app purchases from weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly, or yearly, according to the press release. And, with a click can choose the length of the subscription as well, that will be automatically generated.

Business Insider points out that, “The Daily, for instance, can offer users a one click option to pay for a week of the newspaper at $0.99, or for a year at $40.”

It also isn’t just eReading, but possibly all apps affected by these new policies.

“It appears the new subscription plan won’t just affect publishers like The Daily, or the Wall Street Journal, but all app makers that offer digital content, including companies like Netflix, and Amazon,” according to Business Insider.

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