Apple March event: what to expect from the TV and newsletter
Apple CEO Tim Cook will take the stage at Steve Jobs Theater on Monday to uncover two new subscription services for the company. One is a highly anticipated video service that will put Apple in direct competition with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and other streaming heavyweights. The other is an all-in-one subscription news / magazine service that can change the way many iPhone owners follow current events and their favorite publications.
The company spent the first half of this week creating new hardware notifications – including new iPads, iMacs and AirPods ̵[ads1]1; so all the focus on the event will be on its latest software and services.
Apple Video
Apple has spent years finding its way to this point. One of the more frequent quotes from Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was Jobs & # 39; boasting that he had "cracked" the challenge of reinventing consumer television experience. The late Apple founder had hoped to continue working on a television after declining as CEO before his health slowed down.
But the company has met many years of unsuccessful negotiations and stopped progress. It never managed to roll out a proper Internet TV service like the ones we've seen from Sling TV, YouTube, Hulu, AT&T and Sony. So even though the job quote is almost absolutely irrelevant to which video subscription we want to see on Monday, this is still a big bet for Apple. The company has sourced resources for original programming, and it has a growing catalog of big-name TV shows involved.
Apple came to a less than promising start with its original programming. House of Cards is considered Netflix's first major series, and it was a triumphant. Apple's first turn, however, was Planet of the Apps. The Blatant Shark Tank groundbreaking Will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gary Vaynerchuk were brutally savaged by critics and viewers alike and interrupted after a season.
Apple then tried to stretch James Corden's popular Carpool Karaoke segment into a stand-alone TV show. Reviews for Carpool Karaoke: The series was not much nicer; Yes, a fun late show bit with some memorable moments can get tired when it goes for 20 minutes. But the show made it another season and picked up a Daytime Emmy in the process. More importantly, it pulled Apple's original content out of the Apple Music app – a place no one would ever know to look for it – and moved over to the more sensible TV app delivered pre-installed on the iPhone and Apple TV. It's the app that is expected to be home to Apple's new subscription service, even though the company has announced an iTunes movie and TV app for Samsung TVs that can also be expanded to other non-Apple devices.
How much does it cost? [[19659009] Rumors have consistently said that Apple device owners will be able to stream at least some of the service's original programming for free. But it will definitely be a monthly subscription component; This is all meant to drive the revenue of Apple's service service even higher, remember. I have not yet seen any credible rumors of what Apple intends to charge consumers. Apple Music costs $ 9.99 per month for individuals or $ 14.99 a month for a family plan.
Apple probably calculates how high it can go here without rubbing subscription overload. A combined Apple Music / Apple Video package seems like a smart convenience to offer. At the end of January Cheddar reported that Apple also put together a gaming subscription service. Will consumers really pay for all these things separately if Apple doesn't combine them?
The company has reportedly rolled out its own response to Amazon Prime, a comprehensive subscription package that will pack its digital services (including news and video offers) and bonuses that increase iCloud storage. Connect the gaming service to it, and maybe you're on something. But we have not yet seen any credible pricing rumors, so it's still a mystery.
How do I see Apple's TV service?
The leading theory right now is that Apple will integrate its subscription video service directly into the TV app on iOS and Apple TV. But there is no TV app for Mac, Windows or Android – not to mention Roku, Fire TV, and game consoles. It leaves many potential customers, so Apple has to come up with another way for them to look at. A desktop browser can be a simple solution to PCs, but other platforms will require dedicated apps.
Samsung has already announced that an iTunes Movies and TV Shows app is coming to its 2019 QLED television, so there is at least one TV maker with a subscription service portal. But Apple still needs to cover much more basics, so it's likely that either the same iTunes app or an offshoot of the TV app will get to other TVs and streaming devices in the coming months.
Today, the Apple TV app comes with shows and movies from various video services – over 100, according to Apple – and gives users a primary hub to search through that content or find recommendations on what to see next. But when they bet, viewers are still being transferred to third-party streaming apps from HBO, Hulu, Showtime, Starz, Syfy and other partners to actually watch something. Building a full-featured streaming app removes some of the jumps in and out of other apps.
Apple News Subscription Service
Apple aims to expand the scope of the Apple News app with a new subscription service that will unlock access to hundreds of participating newspapers and magazines that normally keep their contents behind a paywall. This new service, described as a "Netflix for news", comes from Apple's acquisition of a company called Texture last year.
It has been rumored that the paid news service will cost $ 10 per month, and Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Apple – at least at once – hoped to keep 50 percent of subscriptions to it self.
Some publishers have reportedly turned on Apple's terms. Only yesterday, The New York Times reported that both it and The Washington Post have selected Apple's soon-launched service, but The Wall Street Journal is said to have signed on. It's a big grip for Apple, but two immediate holdouts are proof that Apple is already having trouble merging publications that many consumers actually want from such a service. Times said Apple still requires about half of affiliate subscription revenue, which far exceeds 30 percent from App Store subscriptions and in app payments.
But millions of people use Apple News on their iPhones, iPads or Macs, and Apple's pitch is about exposure and new eyebrows. So it will be very interesting to see which publications agree to bring the content to the service, come to Monday, and whether Apple can deliver anything convincingly out of the port – especially if it really costs $ 10 a month.
