The Internet & Television Association — Apple launches new video, news services
Apple at a star-studded event in Cupertino, Calif., on Monday unveiled its news subscription and video streaming services, pivoting away from hardware as iPhone sales continue to fall.
Apple News+: Apple unveiled its news subscription service, Apple News+, which will offer customers access to over 300 magazines, as well as some of the country’s largest newspapers, through their Apple News app.
Apple will charge users $9.99 per month for the service, which has been described as a “Netflix for news.” Apple News+ customers will gain access to high-profile magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, Wired and more.
The magazines will be available in a digital format designed specifically for a phone screen, with “live covers” that play videos on a loop and tables of contents designed to be easily clicked.
“It’s like having National Geographic designed for my phone,” Roger Rosnor, Apple’s vice president for applications, said at the launch event in Cupertino, Calif., on Monday.
The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, both of which are mainly available behind a paywall, will be available through Apple News+ as well.
The Apple News+ feature became available on Monday in the United States and Canada, with availability in the United Kingdom expected for later this year.
More details on Apple News+ here.
Apple TV+: Apple is jumping into the world of streaming video with a service that will put them in competition with Amazon and Netflix.
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday laid out the company’s plans for a streaming service that will include original content from celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Anniston, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Octavia Spencer and Kumail Nanjiani, among others.
Apple did not reveal the price of its new streaming service, Apple TV+, but said that it will host exclusive TV shows and movies produced in-house.
Apple called the service “the new home for the world’s most creative storytellers.” Spielberg spoke first about his plan to revamp “Amazing Stories” on the platform, followed by Anniston and Witherspoon, who are collaborating to create and star in a show called “Morning Show.”
Winfrey, a veteran talk show host, announced that she will be using the platform to build “the biggest, the most vibrant, the most stimulating book club on the planet.”
Winfrey plans to host conversations with authors of books that she chooses to highlight, piggybacking on the international success of Oprah’s Book Club, which has highlighted Winfrey’s picks since 1996.
“They’re in a billion pockets, y’all,” Winfrey said, explaining why she had chosen Apple to host her new efforts. “A billion pockets.”
