Apple is dictating tougher terms of commerce on its wildly successful mobile devices, demanding a 30 per cent cut on all subscriber content sold directly through its iPads and iPhones.

The new rules, which affect everything from newspaper subscriptions to digital music services, are partly a response to requests from publishers for a system that lets them charge recurring subscription fees, rather than demand a new payment for each individual edition, song or video sold through apps.

Publishers that offer digital subscriptions will have to make the same offer through Apple’s App Store. While they can still offer subscriptions via their own websites, they cannot link to that website from the app. The agreement replicates the model Apple introduced this month at the launch of The Daily, News Corp’s iPad-only newspaper.