Apple buying digital magazine service Texture partly owned by Rogers

Apple Inc. is acquiring Texture, the all-you-can-read digital magazine service partly owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the Globe and Mail's Christine Dobby writes.

For Apple, the move to buy Texture – which gives subscribers access to more than 200 U.S. and Canadian magazines for between $10 and $15 a month – is being hailed as another way for the iPhone maker to increase its service revenue. The company hopes to increase the money it earns from services such as movie rentals, music streaming and app downloads to US$50-billion by 2021.

For Toronto-based Rogers, meanwhile, the deal announced on Monday means the end of its ownership of the Texture platform, which it once touted as a solution to the beleaguered magazine-publishing business model as it focused on subscribers paying for content at a time when advertiser revenue was sharply declining.

Rogers purchased an equity stake in what was then known as Next Issue in 2013. The service, which Apple is purchasing for an undisclosed price, is also owned by Condé Nast Publications Inc., Hearst Corp., New York-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Meredith Corp.

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