Subscription email service Newton is shutting down in September

As ONS figures revealed this week, email is still the main thing Brits use the internet for. The problem is that most of us don’t pay for the privilege, and it’s in this climate that premium email service Newton has announced it will be closing its doors next month.

Founded in 2013, and rebranded as Newton in 2016, the mobile, Mac and PC email client added power user features such as read receipts, send later, undo send, sender profile and connected apps. It was very widely liked – but undoubtedly on the expensive side, costing $9.99 per month, or $100 per year.

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Despite boasting 40,000 subscribers at that relatively high price, the company has announced it’s no longer sustainable as a business. Newton won’t be accepting new signups or renewing monthly subscriptions, and is working through the process of providing refunds for annual subscribers.

In a blog post announcing the bad news, CEO Rohit Nadhani wrote: “It was a tough business decision. We explored various business models but couldn’t successfully figure out profitability & growth over the long term.”

The premium email market is simply “not big enough,” he continued, adding that the company faced stuff competition from big-hitting free alternatives from Google, Microsoft and Apple.

“We put up a hard and honest fight, but it was not enough to overcome the bundling & platform default advantages enjoyed by the large tech companies.”

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Parent company CloudMagic will live on, Nadhani promised, adding that the company will now focus its time and energy on “new and innovative projects”.

“To our users, we sincerely thank you,” Nadhani concluded. “You are the reason we worked tirelessly to create the best email experience.”

Are you a Newton subscriber? Where are you going to go next? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews.