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Among the many announcements at WWDC this week, Apple showed off it’s new “News” app.  It’s already being labeled a “Flipboard Killer” by many, but I don’t think so.

Apple’s long history of “sherlocking” apps aside (not that there’s anything wrong with that...), I think the News app represents a bigger play.  One with two very important implications.

For one, Apple is seeking to democratize content.  It’s the same thing they’re doing with  Music (link to blog).  If you read the supporting documentation you find out that for the big players, they can publish existing RSS feeds and keep 100% of the ad revenue they are already set-up to generate.  That keeps it in-line with competing services (say the new Facebook Instant Articles.)  But if you simply register as a content provider on their site you- heck ANYONE- can have their content made available through the app.  And if you’re a small start up you can opt-in to iAds and even make a little money.  Apple clearly this year is making plays to make upstart content creators more accessible to everyone.  

This goes hand-in-hand with part two, which is to reduce the reliance web search.  With the new Siri APIs and her ability to cull information from within apps more easily, make no mistake Apple is looking to reduce your reliance web search (i.e., Google).  Now, even a search for news will likely return articles in the News app above web results.  Or asking Siri about a current event will bring up News app articles above Bing results.  

So then the question becomes- why?  Is it just a slap at Google?  The continuation of the “thermonuclear war” Jobs declared?  If you can’t beat them in court, beat them off your platform?

Maybe a little.

But I like to think that Apple’s motives are bit more altruistic.  Like perhaps they see this as better privacy (less web, more on-device) and more open (instead of Google’s or Bing’s paid results up top, focused on popularity or relevancy?)  With the money A) not being as important since they are a device company and B) coming from ads layered on top of any content (like News is doing).

Bottom line, I see these as more than just apps or even services.  These are platforms.  And they’re just getting started.