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California – Apple has sought to introduce itself differently Monday as a provider of entertainment and financial services and production of its iPhone, launching a television service, a credit card and an online gaming platform, announcing that the services sector will be a key element of its next growth strategy.
At a ceremony attended by the famous TV channel Oprah Winfrey and the famous director Steven Spielberg, Apple, the second largest technology company in the world, unveiled a TV and movie subscription service called Apple TV. Plus "and will broadcast television programs and films will be produced specifically for this service.
But the event, which brought together a large number of stars, failed to arouse the enthusiasm of investors. Apple lost 1.2%.
The company's involvement in the video war, long-awaited, is years behind the market leaders such as Netflix and Amazon, Apple has not mentioned key details such as the tariffs, which makes it difficult to compare with the services of its competitors.
"Apple may offer more original content than Amazon and Netflix when launching their services, but the broadcast market has already reached a level of saturation and exhaustion for consumers in the United States," he said. said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Chatham Road Partners.
Exclusive content is the mainstay of these companies to attract consumers. One of the most prominent faces in the works will be presented by the service Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon in a series titled "The Morning Show".
Apple said its service would be "a new place for the world's greatest creative novelists," adding that its subscription-based service would provide exclusive media coverage to Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg, and others.
The Apple app will be available for subscription to other business channels in May. But its own original programs will only appear in the fall and prices have yet to be announced. The company said its services would be offered in more than 100 countries.
Apple has also launched a platform of credit cards and digital games and added hundreds of magazines for its news application at a conference at its Cupertino, CA headquarters.
This comes at a time when the company is experiencing a decline in iPhone sales, which encourages it to pay more attention to services generating a constant return of subscriptions.
The paid service is added to the free news service of Apple, allowing users to read the magazine via the digital platform as they read from the print version.
Apple can count on its financial resources and its base of 1.4 billion devices manufactured by consumers
"We want to deliver the best magazine reading experience on any mobile device," said Roger Rosenner, vice president of applications at Apple.
This service is expected to have a significant impact on the video streaming market, which faces fierce competition between a large number of companies, including Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, which will be joined by other major companies such as Disney , Warner Media ".
Despite Apple's late arrival to competition, the giant group can count on its vast financial resources and its 1.4 billion user base, manufactured by consumers around the world and automatically managed by Apple.
The group is also known for its frequent involvement with rival companies in different markets and then to change the equation, as with the iPhone, or as quickly as Apple Music.
Apple TV, Plus is available through the Apple TV app announced by the major US group, which allows users to subscribe separately to channels such as HBO, Showtime, Stars, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more. "He said.
Tim Cook said the idea was to "put all the programs, sports broadcasting and news together on all your devices so you spend less time looking for what you want to watch and benefit from." This assumes that Apple uses the personal data of its users to analyze their preferences and suggest programs.
However, Tim Cook has repeatedly pointed out that these different services would not allow advertisers to monitor and target advertising users, and Apple would not share personal data with third parties.
The analyst, Daniel Ives of the company "Wadbush Securities" which "Apple TV. Plus is a" major strategy "in which Apple will face stiff competition and" success will play a vital role in the growth of its services "in the coming years.
He expects the new service to attract 100 million subscribers within three to five years. The investor specialized in American technology companies, Benedict Evans, did not seem convinced of the new service, as he wrote on Twitter: "Apple did not tell us much (about his video offers), if it is that he exists ".
"I do not want to know the annual budget (for content), whether it's $ 1 billion or $ 10 billion," like Netflix. As with rockets, "the only way to increase is to burn fuel".
Apple has also announced a newspaper subscription service called News Plus, priced at $ 9.99 per month. "We believe that Apple News Plus will be a hit for consumers and publishers," Cook said.
The service gives access to a large number of magazines, but the daily newspapers available are very few and are limited to well-known names, including the United States, "The Los Angeles Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" and the Canadian "The Star". The New York Times and the Washington Post declined to join the service because of the percentage of Apple asking for revenue and their willingness to maintain direct contact with readers.
The relationship between newspapers and technology giants, especially Google and Facebook, is extremely difficult, as news organizations accuse these companies of stealing their content without paying the appropriate advertising revenue.
Apple has also announced a subscription to Apple Arcade video games. This service, presented as the first of its kind, could be "strategically effective" and Apple could "see real income in the coming years," according to Ives.
Apple also announced Monday a credit card. The strengthening of Apple's presence in the service sector is a key factor in the decline in sales of its "iPhone" by the end of 2018 in case of saturation of the smartphone market.
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