Wall Street Journal selling subscriptions via Apple's Newsstand

The Wall Street Journal has joined thousands of newspapers and magazines that sell their content through the Apple Newsstand.

The move of the Wall Street Journal to Newsstand is surprising for one reason -- the former president of WSJ owner Dow Jones, Todd Larsen, opposed selling subscriptions via the online news kiosk because Apple retains 30 percent of the subscription revenue and also controls all customer billing information. Larsen left the company last summer.

The Journal is able to ask subscribers for their email addresses for marketing purposes, and it will also be able to continue to sell digital subscriptions through its own website.

Some of the benefits that Wall Street Journal subscribers will see include using their existing iTunes accounts to pay for the paper and automatic background downloading of the publication.