Apple’s purchase last month of the Dutch digital magazine publishing platform Prss has raised questions about their plans for developing a news aggregation app, potentially crashing the profusion of stand-alone subscription publishing apps.For years Apple has held to a philosophy of allowing print publishers to develop apps and sell digital subscriptions within the App Store. This relationship was mutually beneficial: Apple would get their cut and publishers would have a ubiquitous location from which to gain much needed subscription revenue.Despite the best of intentions, observations are that many of these apps have been lackluster in their design, function, and content delivery. According to an article in Talking New Media, “The original New York Times app … which only gave readers an ‘editor’s choice’ selection of content, was said to be hated by Steve Jobs. The NYT quickly added more content, but the app has hardly changed since its initial release in 2010.”For those unfamiliar with Prss, the app allows users to create beautiful digital magazines via a drag-and-drop interface. “Up to 30 people can collaborate on any magazine in a similar fashion to a Google Doc, and users can create as many magazines as they like,” according to The Next Web. The app is currently free to use, with the company charging consumers $0.05 per magazine download.While Apple doesn’t speak publically about the reasons behind their acquisitions, the concern is it will begin aggregate news content via the Prss platform and allow consumers to purchase such magazines for a lower cost.If Apple chooses to go in that direction, publishers fear a loss of independence in their digital app subscriptions, where content will be available in Apple’s app at a discounted rate from what they would normally have charged as a standalone app.Alternatively, Apple could use Prss in a more B2B play, making it easier for app developers to create beautiful digital magazine experiences, thereby making Apple apps functionally superior to Android apps and other competitors.Time will tell as to what Apple has up its sleeve for subscription content, but the hope is that a compromise can be made between content delivery aesthetics and the revenue concerns of the publishers themselves.