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.
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An Apple credit card was rumoured last week, and a big cheer comes when Cook announces it.
Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, takes to the stage to explain how the Apple Card will work. It comes with a companion app, much like the new wave of banks like Monzo and Revolut, giving stats and feedback on purchases.
Her favourite feature is the 2 per cent daily cash back that gives users "cash, real cash" every time users pay.
Also, no fees. "All the fees and high interest rates that most banks charge are just not okay," Bailey says.
Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard to make the Apple Card possible, meaning it will be accepted all over the world.
There's a digital version of Apple Card, but also a physical version. And it's made of titanium. "It's the most beautifully designed card ever," Bailey says.
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