It has been leaked that Apple will reportedly be launching a new subscription service, a video streaming service, and conceivably a game subscription service tomorrow at the Apple press event that is slated to take place on March 25 at the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple’s Cupertino campus, starting at 10 am PDT (1 pm EDT).
According to the Wall Street Journal, this decision by Apple CEO Tim Cook signifies a major shift in the company’s services. It might have been influenced by the recent revenue decline due to the slump in the Apple iPhone sales.
This is a pivotal shift for Apple and in our opinion the biggest strategic move since the iPhone was unveiled in 2007 – Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities
“There is massive pressure on Cook and Apple to deliver on services, with streaming content a potential linchpin of growth.” (Bloomberg post dated March 23, 2019)
Apple’s service unit is the company’s most profitable component and the second largest unit in terms of revenue. Thus, introducing more services for over 1 billion active iPhone users in the world would help the company bring in more earnings.
In 2018, Apple acquired the digital newsstand Texture, which allowed subscribers to choose among 200 magazines to read for $9.99 a month. Last year, words were floating around that Apple planned to merge Apple News and Texture to launch an extensive subscription news service according to Texture’s pricing scheme. So finally, Apple plans to launch its updated Apple News app with over 200 magazines, whose premium service would cost $9.99 per month. Apple will split revenues proportionately with publishers.
Apple’s to-be-launched new video subscription service is supposed to integrate its original programming and programming from other networks. The service will focus on original content. The subscription fee for Apple’s original programming is unknown as of now. Tomorrow’s Apple press event will show a few clips from its original programming.
Apple aims to develop the to-be-launched TV app into an all-inclusive service in terms of TV. It has also been revealed that platforms like Roku and some smart TV brands would also support Apple’s original TV app service, excluding Netflix and Hulu. Moreover, users of this TV app can also subscribe to Starz, Showtime, and HBO for a monthly subscription fee of $9.99.
Moreover, it cannot be said for sure that tomorrow’s event will witness the launch of Apple’s premium monthly subscription gaming service, as Apple has been discussing the service with potential partners. According to Bloomberg, Apple might have plans to compile paid games from different developers, which would be accessible to consumers for a monthly subscription fee. According to insiders, Apple would divide the revenue earned between developers on the basis of user time spent playing the games offered. However, the possible launch of this monthly gaming subscription is mere speculation at this point.
