Apple on Tuesday announced a new subscription service for publishers of content-based applications, requiring them to offer the lowest subscription rates in the company's App Store.

Publishers set the price and length of subscription. They can offer subscription on their own websites, but "Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app," said the company in a statement.

Apple said it will keep 30 percent of the subscription fee for customers it helps publishers draw. "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," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, who is on a medical leave but remains involved with strategic decisions.

But publishers must provide their own authentication process inside the app for subscribers that have signed up outside of the app, and they are not allowed to provide in-app links to let customers sign up outside their apps, according to the statement.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet