Apple event - As it happened: Steven Spielberg among celebrities launching TV streaming, new credit card and magazine subscription services
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Your support makes all the difference.Apple has launched a whole host of new services, intended to make more money from the people who have already bought its products.
In what was hailed as one of the most significant Apple events in years, the company did not reveal new products or software but instead a range of premium services. Together, they represent new ways to pay for news subscriptions, TV and games – as well as a new way to pay for anything, with a brand new titanium credit card.
The highlight of the new announcements was Apple TV+, a new streaming service built to compete with offerings like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. During the event, it invited many of the world's biggest stars and directors on stage to talk about the new shows, on which Apple is thought to have spent billions of dollars.
But it said it would bring a similar, paid-for and ad-free subscription service, for news and for games. All will allow people to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to that content.
Apple tried to link the various announcements together through references to its corporate principles: stressing a focus on privacy, quality, and the ways that the various products are built to work with the company's hardware and software.
But the different announcements were also linked together in the fact that few details were announced about any of them. Apple only revealed the cost and release date of one of the new products, and gave little information about how many of them will work.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
That man has now left. He scrambled off, carrying the popcorn he brought. (Hopefully not a preview of the kind of staying power that Apple's real shows will have!)
The fun is over on Apple's livestream page. It's turned back into a still image.
The iPhone SE – often killed off, but never truly dying, at least not yet – has reappeared back on Apple's clearance website. The little phone came out in 2016 and was beloved in large part because it re-introduced a small size that Apple has mostly avoided in recent years. If you want something small and affordable, then have a look here. (And do it quick, because they often disappear very soon after they appear.)
One thing to think about: lots of people are being really dramatic about today's event. (The BBC has referred to it as the most significant Apple event since the iPhone, which means ignoring the iPad, the Watch, Apple Music and more.)
But the more pessimistic case about how exciting today is: Apple already does streaming, in the form of Apple Music. It already offers TV and film and news, in iTunes and Apple News. It's really just bringing those together.
It's obviously a big moment for Apple. But I think it will have lots of convincing to do in the coming days and weeks to make sure people are excited about it as they are. Lots of people already have Netflix subscriptions and are probably tired of paying for them already.
It could be a major moment, or it could be like the launch of Ping. Or it could actually be both.
Here's some details from Press Association about the rivals that Apple will be taking on when it launches its movie and TV streaming service:
Apple will enter the video subscription market later on Monday when the technology giant is expected to announce plans for a new TV and film service.
Here is a closer look at the rivals Apple will be up against:
- Netflix
The most high-profile of the rival services, Netflix has more than 130 million subscribers globally and features a mixture of award-winning original content and other TV and film releases.
Users can watch content on-demand on a variety of devices, from laptops to smartphones and video game consoles.
It is also possible to download shows to watch offline when users do not have an internet connection.
Netflix also offers tiered monthly subscription pricing, with prices ranging from £5.99 for the basic service, to its £9.99 premium service which includes access to compatible content in Ultra HD resolution and the ability to watch on up to 4 different screens at the same time.
- Amazon Prime Video
Available as part of Amazon's wider Prime rewards programme which offers faster delivery times on items bought from Amazon's e-commerce business, Prime Video is a mix of popular third-party content and its open original programming.
The service is available across mobile devices as well as Amazon's line of Fire TV plug-in boxes and sticks and PCs.
It also includes Amazon's X-Ray feature, which enables users to identify actors and songs while watching a programme and find out more about them.
Subscribers can choose to pay £7.99 a month for the full Prime service which includes faster parcel delivery and access to Prime Music, or pay £5.99 for just Prime Video.
In the US, Prime Video also includes a Channels feature which enables users to sign up to other third-party services, such as those offered by networks HBO and Showtime.
- BritBox
Expected to launch later this year, BritBox is a joint venture between the BBC and ITV into the TV streaming market.
Said to feature the "biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service", it is expected to include high-profile programming from both the BBC and ITV, and could also include content from Channel 4 and Channel 5.
It is being touted as a "long-term home" for many shows after they are no longer available on catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub.
Pricing and full launch date are still to be confirmed.
- Disney+
Another service still to be launched, Disney+ is expected to go live in the United States later this year with a collection of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic-based content.
As well as classic films and TV episodes, the platform is also expected to host a wide range of original programming that will appear first on Disney+.
Further details, including pricing and UK release date, are still to be released.
(My personal opinion is that I don't know how excited I can be for another video streaming service. (And that's as a devoted Apple Music user.) But if they were able to make this new one actually more like a comprehensive platform, which would show me the best things from everywhere and avoid the same mistakes that have made Netflix so tiresome, well then perhaps that might OK, or even better.
And for what it's worth I think this will be the case – that the endless comparisons to Netflix are a little wide of the mark. Instead, I think it could be more like a traditional cable company, offering you the ability to subscribe to different providers and bundling them all in one app. It already offers similar functionality in its TV app. And it feels like far more close to what's needed, as opposed to yet another service that claims to be a platform for different movies and TV shows but really wants to trick you into watching all of its own, like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.)
Tim Cook has tweeted this morning
And he has been mostly greeted by people asking about AirPower and a slightly smaller contingent of people making "Tim Apple" jokes.
An important question for us in the UK, and anywhere else that isn't the US: how much of today's announcements will actually apply to us? Traditionally, Apple hasn't been all that hot about getting everything available all at once – and doing that with very expensive TV shows and infamously difficult TV networks is going to be even more complicated than normal. Let's hope they've sorted at least something out for international Apple customers, even though it's almost certain not to be the same as the more comprehensive service that will be available in the US.
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