Apple Show Time Event 2019
Apple have announced new subscription services that consumers will be able to subscribe to later this year . Here what was announced by Apple.
Apple News+
Magazines will be available on Apple’s news service called Apple News+ with over hundreds of different magazines in a number of different categories available for digestion. Apples News+ also includes premium digital magazines on the new service as well. Apple News+ will be able to make a recommendation based on device intelligence that will recommend articles for you to read. Apple has clarified that they will not be able to know what you read and advertisers will not be able to track what you are reading. The application allows family sharing at no extra charge and is available now across all Apple devices at $9.99.
Apple Card
You can sign up to Apple straight away and use it worldwide in stores, apps and online. This service will be available on all Apple devices and will be available to you via the wallet app. Apple has upgraded the app to tell you how much money you owe, when repayments are due and what you have spent. Giving you a full picture of your spending habits and current financial situation. Any questions you may have regarding your Apple Card such as transactions, you can query straight from iMessage. Apple uses machine learning and Apple Maps to ensure transactions are labelled correctly to the names you recognise. Apple Card will also automatically organise and total your purchases, you will be able to keep track of your expenditure via categories such as shopping and leisure. Apple Card will be able to track your spending trends over weeks and months. You will get 2% daily cash every time you use the app to purchase items. Any purchases made to Apple, you will get 3% daily cash.
Apple Arcade
This service is Apple’s gaming subscription service for desktop, tablet, mobile and living room. With the subscription, gamers will be able to access hundreds of exclusive games that you will be able to play games on the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. You will be able to pick up from where you ended even though you have switched Apple devices. All games will be available offline with no ads or additional purchases needed to access the games offline unlike other streaming platforms. Apple Arcade will not track user information on what games you have played or how you interact with their games without your consent. The service will be available to over 150 countries and regions this autumn.
Apple TV
Apple has redesigned their TV app interface and created a whole new TV experience where you can pay for only the channels you want in one app with the password you already have, You will be able to watch everything on demand and ad-free. You will be able to download your shows and take them with you on your travels with the highest quality picture and sound available. The Apple TV app will be available on smart televisions as well as Roku and Fire TV.
Apple TV+
Apple has partnered with storytellers and celebrities such as J.J Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Chris Evans, Ben Stiller, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Evan McGregor and many more to provide high-quality Apple originals ranging from dramas, documentaries, kids, comedies and many more. The service will be an ad-free subscription service that will supply exclusive Apple original to over 100 countries. The content will be available online, offline and on-demand with exclusive movies to Apple available every month.
Verdict
Apple have announced a multitude of service offerings to its consumer with privacy at its heart. Throughout the announcements they emphasized that their new service offerings will not track their consumption habits and advertisers won’t be able to either. This is great on Apple’s part as in recent times privacy for digital services such as streaming platforms are a sensitive area in the industry. By heavily highlighting the privacy side with their service announcement, giving any potential consumer the confidence that their data is safe.
The products announced by Apple shows that the company are not only a hardware company but they are also a digital streaming company now. However in an industry that is full of the big guns such as Fire TV, Netflix and Hulu, the availability of their Apple TV app on non external devices will mean their services may gain further traction to non-Apple consumers. A great positive which Apple have learnt from past with iTunes which was released as an exclusive service offering to Apple users. The announcements shows Apple’s intent and that they are not just here to play and just supple content just to be part of the streaming pie. By announcing a whole host of stars that will provide high quality content on Apple TV+, lets see how the Apple’s content matches up to Netflix and Amazon Prime exclusive content. The content will have to be great for their services to gain traction for non-Apple members as the fees offered by Apple will add on to their monthly streaming expenditure.