Apple Just Announced Apple TV Plus and Other New Services
Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card are here too.
Apple’s thirst for exploring new business ideas and mastering them is well known. The company is also considered a great innovator thanks to its unusual products like Apple AR glasses or the new iPad Mini. The company just proved how much more it has in store by venturing into the world of television. It has launched a streaming service Apple TV Plus in addition to providing the world’s first game subscriptions service, Apple Arcade and providing a digital magazine subscription called Apple News Plus. What are they and how they benefit you? Read on to know.
Apple News+
It is a subscription service that allows you to get access to more than 300 popular magazines, digital publishers and newspapers. You can access current or past issues or even individual articles that will be optimized according to your Apple device. It has been launched in the US for USD 9.99 per month and will be launching in the UK and Australia later this year.
Apple Arcade
Another service announced by Apple is Apple Arcade in which you will get access to 100 exclusive and new games including original releases from Will Wright, Ken Wong, etc. These games would be all you can play and won’t have any ads, ad tracking or additional purchases. It will be available via the Apple store and would be launched in 150 nations in just a few months. The pricing details for any country haven’t been shared by the time of filing this article.
Apple TV+
Apple TV Plus is an original video subscription service by Apple where you will get access to the most creative storytellers of the world, exclusive movies, exclusive original shows and documentaries. Most of these will be launched by the end of this year. Apple TV Plus is launched in direct competition with other video subscription services like Netflix, and hence, it will take help from the star power to lure the audience.
Stars like Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Steven Spielberg, Octavia Spencer, J.J. Abrams, M. Night Shyamalan, Jason Momoa, Jon M. Chu will help in making Apple TV a hit. Most of these stars appeared at the Apple event and talked about the new venture.
Though some people may think that Apple would need a lot of time in winning the hearts of audience who are so hooked on Netflix and might find it difficult to love Apple TV Plus, the company is planning its strategic moves carefully. The company has a considerable advantage over the existing players thanks to its ability to lock people into its existing software and hardware ecosystem.
The Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services at Apple, Eddy Cue said that Apple TV Plus would have the best line-up of storytellers, both, behind and in front of the camera. He also expressed delight over the fact that the viewers were getting a sneak peek of Apple TV Plus during the event and would probably be able to tune into it this spring.
Another advantage of Apple is that the new Apple TV channels and Apple TV app that will come in May 2019 will bring together everything from movies to sports, shows to news and much more in one app across Apple TV, MAC, iPhone, iPad, smart TVs, and other streaming devices.
A user can easily subscribe to and enjoy Apple TV channels and choose to pay for only services that they want like Starz1, SHOWTIME, HBO, etc. All these will be available on demand and in online and offline modes. The picture and sound quality would be exceptional as well. A user will also have the option of either enjoying news, sports and network TV from cable or satellite providers or renting or buying TV shows, iTunes movies within the Apple TV app.
The details on the pricing of Apple TV plus haven’t been made public yet. It might be announced later this year. Latest updates regarding availability say that Apple TV will come to Mac, and smart TVs like LG, Sony, Samsung, Vision, etc. by the end of 2019. It is expected to be available in more than 100 countries by then.
Apple Card
A partnership by Apple, Goldman Sachs and MasterCard, Apple Card is a new credit card that will definitely give more purchasing power to its patrons. However there’s no news on how this could operate in Australia yet.
