Apple announces TV+ and News+ services for video and magazines
posted Sunday Mar 31, 2019 by Scott Ertz
This week, the long-awaited Apple video streaming service was finally unveiled. Adding to that, the company also showed off a second subscription service for newspapers and magazines. The New York Times had already given us a small taste of what that might be when they warned publishers to avoid it.
Apple TV
Since Apple announced that they were dedicating over $1 billion to produce a video streaming service and exclusive content to reside on the platform, we have known that this day would eventually come. There had been discussion over whether Apple would build from scratch, try and purchase Netflix or Hulu, or do something in the middle. In the end, the service looks more like Prime Video than anything else, with 2 different aspects: TV+ and TV Channels.
Apple TV+ is similar to other streaming services, such as CBS All Access, where the content available will be exclusive to the platform. Unlike other services, however, Apple is not working to fight in the licensing realm. Instead, they will be offering only their own content. While the company was heavy on celebrity, they were very light on details. We know that 25 projects are in development, and we knew that the platform will not be exclusive to Apple devices. Unfortunately, that is about all we know. Hopefully, we'll know more as the year goes on.
Apple TV Channels is an extension of the existing Apple TV app, taking a lot of inspiration from Amazon Prime Video Channels. This idea is that you can add multiple subscriptions to your single platform, bringing together the video available on those services into a single interface. Apple is very excited about this ability, but not everyone is on the same page. Because of that, there is one very notable platform missing: Netflix. Another downfall is that the service is exclusive to Apple platforms, meaning that it will be less than useful for most in their living rooms, where many of us watch television.
Apple News+
The Apple News+ subscription service has a lot more information available, despite being far less interesting than its video counterpart. For $9.99 per month, the new service will provide access to over 300 publications, mostly magazines, with the occasional newspaper. Included are big publications like Time Magazine and Wall Street Journal, as well as more niche publications, such as Wired and Men's Health.
But Why?
Apple is in the middle of a transition of sorts. It is clear that they are struggling to care about the iPhone, and hardware in general. Despite their best efforts, smartphones have become a commodity, with nothing really separating them from one another. People buy on price and brand at this point, and so the company has to do something to generate additional revenue. Subscription services have been a good way to do that in the past, though subscription fatigue is certainly setting in, and that market is likely to start collapsing in the coming months. It will be interesting to see if any of these services end up gaining any traction.