A week after WWDC, the direction of one new iOS 9 app focused on news content just became a bit clearer.
Apple's job posting for the position of Apple News Editor showed up on Friday, days after the event, and the details of the listing offer some insight into how the app's content will be managed.
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"These editors will help News users find the best and most timely coverage of major news events, while also managing select categories based on their areas of professional expertise," reads the job listing on Apple's website.
During the app's unveiling at WWDC, no mention was made of human curation -- other than that initiated by users of the app. So the formation of an Apple News team of editors is particularly noteworthy.
The move indicates that Apple won't be content to let the app languish on iOS devices, waiting for user attention, but will be pushed aggressively by a team of human editors tasked with surfacing interesting content.
The listing, first discovered by 9to5Mac, goes on to detail that Apple News editors will need "the ability to manage relationships with some of the world’s finest publishers, to work seamlessly with an international team, and to craft compelling email newsletters."
Based on those qualifications, it appears that Apple's News app won't simply rely on a user's selected preferences (demonstrated during WWDC) or some sort of "news taste" algorithm, but rather on the human touch.
That particular point is made even more clear by another passage in the listing, which states Apple News Editors must have "great instincts for breaking news, but be equally able to recognize original, compelling stories unlikely to be identified by algorithms."
Along with Beats1, Apple's new radio station populated by human DJs, the News app is yet another inroad the company is making toward content curation.
Initial commercial content partners include ESPN, 17 Conde Nast titles (such as Vanity, GQ and Vogue) and The New York Times, which will offer users 30 free articles daily.
An official, non-beta version of the app is expected to launch with iOS 9 to the general public in the U.S., UK and Australia later this year.