The platform will include shows from existing services like Hulu and HBO.

Apple also announced that it would be launching a credit card, gaming portal and enhanced news app.

The event was held in California and Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook was clear from the start that the announcements would be about new services, not new devices.

It is a change of direction for the 42-year-old company.

Apple TV

There had been much anticipation about Apple’s predicted foray into the TV streaming market, dominated by the likes of Amazon and Netflix.

The Apple TV+ app was unveiled by Steven Spielberg and will launch in the autumn.

Spielberg will himself be creating some material for the new platform, he said.

Other stars who took to the stage included Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Jason Momoa, Alfre Woodard, comedian Kumail Nanjiani and Big Bird from Sesame Street.

The app will be made available on rival devices for the first time, coming to Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio smart TVs as well as Amazon’s Firestick and Roku.

The subscription fee was not announced, and notably absent from the launch line-up was Netflix, which had already ruled itself out of being part of the bundle.

“The test for Apple will be, can new content separate them out from their competitors and can they commission and deliver on fresh new content that can reach audiences in the same way that Stranger Things has for Netflix for example?” commented Dr Ed Braman, an expert in film and production at the University of York.

Apple Card

The Apple Card credit card will launch in the US this summer.

There will be both an iPhone and physical version of the card, with a cashback incentive on every purchase.

The credit card will have no late fees, annual fees or international fees, said Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey.

It has been created with the help of Goldman Sachs and MasterCard.

News stand

The firm also revealed a news service, Apple News+, which will include more than 300 magazine titles including Marie Claire, Vogue, New Yorker, Esquire, National Geographic and Rolling Stone.

The LA Times and the Wall Street Journal will also be part of the platform, the firm said.

It added that it will not track what users read or allow advertisers to do so.

Apple News+ will cost $9.99 (£7.50) per month and is available immediately in the US and Canada. It will come to Europe later in the year.

Unlike TV+, the news platform will only be available on Apple devices.

Gaming

A new games platform, Apple Arcade, will offer over 100 exclusive games from the app store which will all be playable offline, in contrast with Google’s recently announced streaming platform Stadia.

It will be rolled out across 150 countries in the autumn but no subscription prices were given.

in 2018 analyst firm IHS Markit valued the global gaming market on iOS, Apple’s operating system, at $33.5bn.

There is space within that market for a platform like Apple Arcade which is not financed by in-app purchases or advertising, said IHS director of games research Piers Harding-Rolls.

“Apple’s decision to move up the games value chain with a new, curated subscription service and to support the development of exclusive games for its Arcade platform is a significant escalation of the company’s commitment to the games market,” he said.

“Apple joins the other technology companies Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Amazon and others in investing directly in games content and services.”

Apple is making an aggressive push into several markets in which, thanks to sheer scale alone, it immediately becomes a massive player.

Its TV service has been long in the making, and Apple has amassed a roster of big stars, as expected.

A bigger test will be how creative those ideas will be – a lot of Netflix’s success has been about finding new talent, not throwing money at already famous names.

I also have reservations about how many boundaries Apple will be prepared to push with its creative endeavours: if it’s as controlling with its television as it is with its brand, it will create a catalogue bereft of risk-taking.

But TV is just a small part of what Apple is going for here. It wants (and needs) to turn its devices into the portal through which you do everything else – TV/film, gaming, reading the news… and you’d presume other things in the very near future.

The announcement of a credit card shows how far Apple is prepared to go to make sure life is experienced through your iPhone.

As Oprah put it on stage: “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all.”

The post Apple unveils TV streaming platform and credit card appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Invitations to an event at its Cupertino campus on Monday simply saying “It’s show time” have sparked speculation that the tech giant could be about to announce its next TV steps.

Apple needs to diversify and find a new ways of bringing in cash as iPhone sales slow down, analysts say.

But in an unforgiving media landscape, Apple is expected to launch a challenge to the likes of Netflix.

What is Apple’s background in TV?

Apple kicked off its TV ambitions in 1993 with Mackintosh TV, which didn’t get very far.

Its first major foray into the area was in 2007, when it first started selling its Apple TV console. This has had limited success compared with its iTunes music service, analysts say.

Jim Nail, principal analyst at Forrester, says: “Apple has had a TV device and content library for several years, following the model around music that revolutionised that industry.

“But people consume TV and music content very differently so just applying the music model didn’t have the same impact.”

Apple TV’s hardware and technology platform is used to rent and sell content through iTunes.

The firm has released original titles through Apple Music, including Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps, a reality show about app development.

Since 2007, Apple has also had some success in distributing movies and TV shows, according to Canalys analyst Ben Stanton.

However, he adds: “Its iTunes movies business is under huge threat from affordable streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and soon Disney.

“It was a success in its day, but Apple now needs to evolve this business or it will die.”

Apple has built up relationships with major movie studios and TV networks, and these are “critical” for it to launch a subscription service, Mr Stanton says, because it needs to have more content than just its own original shows.

But some big players have said they are not on board. Netflix has already ruled out making its TV programmes and films available through Apple’s subscription service, with chief executive Reed Hastings saying: “We prefer to let our customers watch our content on our service.”

What is Apple expected to announce?

Apple has been on a $2bn spending spree, signing up stars such as Oprah Winfrey, for original content. Jennifer Aniston and Reece Witherspoon are also widely reported to have been signed up.

Directors and producers including M. Night Shyamalan and J.J. Abrams have been signed up, according to showbiz publication Variety, as well as Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television.

Apple also hired two well-respected Sony Pictures executives, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, to head its original content division.

As for the service itself, Jim Nail of Forrester says: “As usual, Apple is so closely guarding the details that it is hard to judge it. Will it upgrade the Apple TV device? Does it have partnerships with SmartTV manufacturers that will make an Apple TV app more broadly available?

“Exactly what content is included in the subscription? Live TV? On-demand episodes of current network programs? Sports? And the price matters a lot. As they say in the TV business, stay tuned…”

It may also allow customers to buy subscriptions to CBS, Viacom and Lions Gate, and is also in discussions with Game of Thrones maker HBO to become part of its service, according to Reuters.

What have its rivals been doing?

Netflix “is the biggest fish in this particular pond”, says Ben Stanton, and Netflix and Apple “have been at loggerheads recently”.

The streaming giant is shifting its subscription model away from the Apple App store, which means it will be much harder for Apple to make money from Netflix customers on its iOS operating system.

In terms of content, Amazon Prime has a number of irons in the fire, including an upcoming series based on JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings mythology, Radio Times reports.

Amazon Prime includes Channels, where consumers in the US can sign up to third parties such as HBO and Showtime.

HBO is due to premiere season eight of its smash hit series Game of Thrones in April.

The BBC and ITV also announced recently that they are in talks over launching a service called Britbox in the UK.

Why does Apple need to get into TV?

Smartphone sales are slowing for many major manufacturers, including Apple, says Ben Stanton, but most other companies have big businesses to fall back on.

“Huawei has its infrastructure business. Samsung has a very profitable components division, not to mention its TV business. But Apple is extremely dependent on iPhone,” he says.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said he wants to focus the company on selling services rather than just hardware in a major shift in strategy.

Apple is “sacrificing some of the profitability in its iPhone business” to try to push up the number of people using iOS, so it can sell services to them and to its existing user base, Mr Stanton says.

Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis adds: “iPhone sales are slowing so it makes sense for Apple to further diversify its business.

“Video viewing is growing, the Amazon Channels model has been successful for Amazon and the third party services alike, and with a massive base of iPhone and iPad users there is quite a lot of potential.”

The post Is Apple about to expand its TV business? appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.