Apple has acquired a small Dutch digital magazine startup, according to a new report (translated link) from Dutch Apple blog iCulture.
The company, PRSS, launched in 2012 as a way to allow users to easily create digital magazines for the iPad Newsstand platform without requiring iOS coding or development experience.
While neither Apple nor PRSS has confirmed the acquisition officially, TechCrunch received a boilerplate statement from Apple that “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” Apple’s Newsstand platform has not gained much traction since its launch in 2011, and the PRSS acquisition, which essentially provides a magazine-specific alternative to the textbook app iBooks Author, could be used to encourage publishers to take better advantage of the platform.