Apple held its services-focused press launch last night, and as predicted there were announcements of new subscription-based video, news and games products.
Apple TV+ will launch later in the year with original shows from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams, as well as the ability to subscribe to other providers (through the Apple TV app) like HBO and Showtime. The core service will be advertising-free, and available in more than 100 countries, but no pricing or launch date was announced.
That was also true for Apple Arcade, a new all-you-can-eat gaming service that will span iOS devices, Apple TV set-top boxes and Mac computers. More than 100 games will be included at launch, with no in-app purchases, but pricing remains a mystery.
Apple News+ is the third new product: it launched yesterday in the US and Canada – it’s $9.99 a month in the former – with a subscription bundling more than 300 magazines, newspapers and digital-news sources – the Wall Street Journal, Vogue, National Geographic and more. The service will expand to the UK and Australia later in the year.
There was no news on any potential bundles of these services plus Apple Music, nor were there any new announcements about the music-streaming service. There was a surprise, though: an Apple-branded credit card, which will be a physical card that’s tightly linked to Apple’s ‘Wallet’ app. It’ll launch in the US this summer.
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