Apple was forced to delay the launch of its ambitious new podcast service by several days

Apple Podcasts Subscriptions was announced at last month's Spring Loaded event, where CEO Tim Cook promised "the biggest change since the debut of Apple Podcasts" But apparently, the change was a bit too big for Apple's planned May launch date, which has now been pushed back to next month

The new Podcast Subscriptions service will include some major changes to the Podcasts app The latter will allow creators to monetize their podcasts to Apple's audience of over 1 billion active iPhone users worldwide

Originally, Apple had announced that Apple Podcast Subscriptions would launch in May, but with only a few days left before that deadline, Apple accepted that it would not meet the deadline and next month became the new target

"To ensure the best experience for our creators and listeners, Apple Podcast Subscriptions and channels will launch in June," the company wrote in an email to creators obtained by 9to5Mac Through this newsletter, we will provide further updates on availability and best practices to help you prepare for Subscriptions and Channels"

In the same note, Apple reports some excitement about the change, citing "hundreds of new subscriptions and channels being submitted daily from creators around the world"

However, we also tacitly acknowledge that the podcast update in iOS 145 is, at best, controversial" We also listened to our listeners and made adjustments based on their feedback in iOS 146, which was released on Monday," the company writes "In the coming weeks, we plan to introduce further enhancements to the Library"

Paid subscriptions are a bit of an unknown for a medium that has been free to almost everyone since its launch, but Apple hopes there will be a market for viewers who want an ad-free experience, early access, additional episodes and other bonuses Apple will take a 30% cut from all subscriptions for the first year, then drop to 15% annually thereafter

Apple is not the only company that believes people will pay for podcasts if there is an attractive package Last month, Spotify launched its own paid podcast service in the United States Prices range from $299 to $799, depending on the podcaster's preference

Notably, Spotify plans to charge no part of the fee for the first two years, perhaps hoping to persuade popular podcasters to sign up with Spotify over Apple when a rival service eventually launches