Head of Apple News+ departs the company after an underwhelming start

Apple News+ continues its journey to try and find itself.

What you need to know

• Apple's head of business for Apple News+ has stepped down.
• The company is reportedly immediately looking for a replacement from the publishing industry.
• Apple News+ continues to struggle to attract paying subscribers.

Apple News+ continues to struggle in attracting paying subscribers and, due to its lackluster performance since its launch in 2018, has now led to one of the key executives for the service to step down.

According to a new report by Bloomberg, Liz Schimel, the head of business for Apple News+, has stepped down after less than a year in her role at the company. Schimel had joined Apple in 2018 after serving as the president of international business at magazine publisher Conde Nast. During her time at the company, she oversaw News' relationships with publishers and advertisers.

One of the people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified by Bloomberg, said that Apple is now seeking for a notable name from the publishing industry to take on the role that Schimel just left. An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

This latest move continues to shed light on Apple's struggle to get momentum behind its news and magazine subscription service. While the company reported in January that Apple News was being actively used by more than 100 million people across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, it did not reveal how many of those were paying customers. Previous reporting has shown that both publishers and users are waiting for the service to find its footing.

Apple News launched in 2015 as the default news app on every new iPhone and iPad and eventually made its way to the Mac as well. After its acquisition of the popular magazine app Texture, the company launched Apple News+, its subscription service for the News app that gave users access to hundreds of magazines as well as a few newspapers for $9.99 per month.

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