When Apple announced Apple News+ at its ‘Show Time’ event, it highlighted that it had managed to get The Wall Street Journal’s onboard the service. Given that a monthly WSJ subscription costs $39, getting access to its content via Apple News+ for $9.99/month made it sound like an incredibly tempting deal.

Now, more details about WSJ’s partnership with Apple has been detailed. The WSJ has joined hands with Apple in hopes that this move will allow it to get its content in front of millions of people who have never come read its content before.

More importantly, WSJ’s partnership with Apple will see Apple News+ subscribers get access to 3 days of archived content. While readers will get access to content from all categories including politics, general news, sports, and more, they will primarily be presented with news items that will cater to the general audience. It was earlier rumored that WSJ’s business news won’t be a part of Apple News+ but that’s not the case. Users will be able to search for content across all topics from WSJ in Apple News+.

William Lewis, chief executive of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of the Journal, said at a meeting for newsroom staff that the deal “will enable us to get our journalism in front of millions of people who may never have paid for our journalism before.”

To cater to the requirements of Apple News+, WSJ will be hiring almost 50 newsroom writers and staffs. While Apple won’t be sharing details about the customer with WSJ, they will be sharing traffic data with the publication.

In a bid to keep its existing 1.7 million digital subscribers happy, WSJ will be offering them an “enhanced service” with additional perks and more business news. WSJ has also renegotiated its terms with Apple that will allow it to drop out of the service anytime it wishes to.

Our Take

WSJ is among the very few digital publications to have signed up for Apple News+. Its success or failure will decide whether other smaller publications sign up for Apple News+ or not. The problem with Apple News+ is that Apple itself is taking half the revenue generated by the service from publishers which is putting them in a fix. Many publishers are hoping that with Apple’s reach, they are able to reach millions of new people which in turn will ensure that they generate more revenue which is also enough to offset Apple’s share.

[Via WSJ]