Apple held their Spring media event today at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA.
Today’s event was all about services… Apple News, Apple Pay, App Store and Apple TV. To help tell their story, they had many big name directors and actors join them on stage. Here is a run-down of the announcements from this morning.
10:02a Pacific - Media event kicks off with a video highlighting the plethora of Apple hardware and services
10:03a Pacific - Tim Cook takes the stage to a roaring applause
“Good morning and welcome to the Steve Jons Theater!”
Today’s event is all about services
“Services allow us to enrich our lives”
Apple services include iCloud, ApplePay, Siri, FaceTime, Apple Music and more.
Services have to be easy to use, uncompromising attention to detail, personal data must be private, expert curation, personalized for you, shared with your entire family
10:07 Pacific - Apple News
Apple News is the easiest way to consume news on your iOS device, from trusted sources
Apple News is the #1 news app with over 5 billion reads
“We’re bringing magazines to Apple News”
All-new service called Apple News+
“We have magazines for just about every passion under the sun”, all found in a single place
Magazines will be available within the Apple News app
Currently, more than 300 magazines included in Apple News+
Other subscriptions also available such as Wall Street Journal and The LA Times
Advertisers are NOT allowed to track usage
Apple News+ costs $9.99/month for access to ALL content, subscriptions are available to all family members for no extra charge
Apple News+ is available today and the first month is FREE!
Apple News+ is available in the US and Canada (in English and French)
10:23a Pacific - ApplePay
The vision of ApplePay is to replace the traditional wallet
On target to surpass 10 billion transactions this year
By the end of 2019, ApplePay will be available in more than 40 countries
ApplePay to be fully supported on transit systems in Portland, Chicago and New York City
Today, Apple is introducing a new service called AppleCard
AppleCard is designed to take advantage of the power of the iPhone
Sign up on your iPhone and it’s available to use within minutes
Need help with AppleCare? Support is available via Messages
Reporting is much simpler and cleaner to understand
Every time you spend with AppleCard, you get 2% cash back (3% on iTunes) and you get it every day - this is called DailyCash
Apple helps to minimize interest expenses
AppleCard has no fees… late fees, over limit fees, usage fees… nothing.
Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs and MasterCard
Every transaction is authenticated with TouchID or FaceID
Apple does NOT track what you buy, where you buy it or how much you spend
Physical card is made out of titanium and the name is laser engraved
No signature on the card
AppleCard will be available this Summer
10:40a Pacific - App Store
From day 1, the App Store is a safe way to discover new apps
App Store is visited by more than 500 million people each week
iOS has become the largest gaming platform in the world, due in part to the App Store
More than 1 billion people have downloaded games from the App Store
There are more than 300,000 games available on the App Store
Apple Arcade: first game subscription service
A single subscription gives you access to 100+ games
Apple Arcade is accessible on iPhone, iPod, iPad and AppleTV and games are available offline
Parents can manage screentime
Apple Arcade does NOT track user data
Apple Arcade will be available this Fall (pricing to come later)
10:51a Pacific - Apple TV
“TV is more than just entertainment… it’s cultural and enriches our lives”
“With so many choices, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start”
Today, Apple is unveiling an all-new Apple TV app
Over 100,000 titles are built into the Apple TV app
New TV experience is truly a la cart… only pay for what you want
Introducing the all-new Apple TV app
Regardless of where you get your content from, ALL content is available in the Apple TV app
The all-new Apple TV app will be available on Apple TV, iPad, iPhone and iPod
Apple TV app will be available this May via a software update
Apple TV app will also be available on the Mac… this Fall
Apple TV app will also be available on Smart TVs (Samsung, Sony, LG, etc) later this year
11:04a Pacific - Apple TV+
All-new service called Apple TV+
“Great stories can change the world” because they connect us
Steven Spielberg takes the stage
Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston take the stage
Steve Carell takes the stage
Jason Momoa takes the stage
Kumail Nanjiano takes the stage
Big Bird (Sesame Street) takes the stage
JJ Abrams and Sara Bareilles take the stage
Apple TV+ will be the destination for the highest quality original content
Apple TV+ will be available on Apple TV and all other devices
Apple TV+ will be an ad-free service, and everything is downloadable
Apple TV+ will be available in 100+ countries
Apple TV+ will be available this Fall
Oprah Winfrey takes the stage
11:49a Pacific - Event Concludes
