Apple has today officially announced the launch of its new subscription service on the App Store, which it says will be available to all publishers of content-based apps, including magazines, newspapers, video, and music. Apple also confirms what we all knew by now anyway, that this is the same system as launched by News Corp.’s The Daily app, although that app has yet to actually start charging. Here’s Apple CEO Steve Jobs explaining how it all works:

“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. 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.”

Apple goes on to say that as far as Apple is concerned, customer privacy is paramount – if you buy a subscription through the App Store, you’ll be given the option to give the publisher your name, email and zip code when you subscribe, and that information will then be governed by the publisher’s privacy policy, not Apple’s.

Source: Apple