Apple today held its first ever services-centric event, where the company introduced several new and upcoming service products with no hardware announcements at all.
It took Apple almost two hours to introduce Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and Apple TV+, but we've recapped the entire event in just six minutes for our readers who want a no-frills overview of everything Apple announced today.
Apple Card is a new credit card Apple's offering in partnership with Goldman Sachs. Starting this summer, you can sign up for an Apple Card right on the iPhone and start using it immediately for Apple Pay purchases. You can make digital payments with Apple Pay using the card, but for non-Apple Pay payments, Apple is giving customers a slick titanium card with no visible credit card info like number and CVV (all of that info is in Wallet, though).
With Apple Card, you get 1% cash back for standard card purchases, 2% cash back for Apple Pay purchases, and 3% cash back for Apple purchases. Cash back is provided to you on a daily basis and you can use it for paying your balance, making purchases, or sending Apple Pay Cash in Messages. There are also unique budgeting and tracking tools for monitoring spending along with support via the Messages app. There are no fees, and Apple plans to offer low interest rates.
Apple Arcade is Apple's new cross-platform subscription gaming service that will provide access to more than 100 iOS games from publishers like Disney, Sega, LEGO, Cartoon Network, Konami, and more when it launches this fall in over 150 countries. Apple hasn't announced pricing, but an Apple Arcade subscription will include full access to all games with no additional in-app purchases necessary to unlock content.
Apple's final services announcement was Apple TV+, which will house all of the company's original TV content. Apple has more than a dozen original shows in the works from creators like Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and Oprah. Pricing hasn't been announced because it's not launching till the fall, but Apple TV+ will be available in Apple's revamped TV app, coming in May.
The new TV app, which will be available on iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac (in the fall) and third-party Smart TVs from Sony, LG, Samsung, and Vizio, features better than ever recommendations built on machine learning and a new "Channels" option that will let you subscribe to and watch content from providers like Starz, Showtime, and HBO.
Below, we've rounded up all of our coverage from today's event if you missed it:
- Apple Announces Apple News+ $9.99 a Month Subscription Service With Access to Over 300 Magazines
- Apple Announces Original TV Streaming Service 'Apple TV+'
- Apple Announces 'Apple Card' Credit Card With Daily Rewards, Simplified Statements, and No Fees
- Apple Announces 'Apple Arcade' Cross-Platform Subscription Games Service With Access to Over 100 Titles
- Apple Reveals Redesigned Apple TV App With 'Apple TV Channels' Subscription Feature
- Apple Shares All of the Videos From Today's Services Event
- Apple Releases iOS 12.2 With Apple News+ Service, New Animoji, HomeKit and AirPlay 2 Support for TVs, Safari Changes and More
- Apple Releases tvOS 12.2 for Fourth and Fifth-Generation Apple TV
- Apple Releases macOS Mojave 10.14.4 With Safari Automatic Dark Mode and Apple News+ Support
- How to Sign Up For an Apple News+ Subscription
Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors because we'll have more coverage of Apple's new services including detailed guides coming this week.
Top Rated Comments
ATV+ I have the feeling will be an expensive Netflix.
Card could be interesting.
News, seems expensive and not sure I want another subscription.
Maybe if Apple combine all the above plus Music and storage for a great price, then maybe.
Finally....Come on Apple, bring that Mac Pro and displays at WWDC. Enough of this madness.
They already have the established library.
This was never what I wanted from Apple, ever.
I always think of Steve when he returned to Apple, simplified the hardware line and focused on software big time. While I get we live in different times, I wish Apple could focus on what matters most and stop trying to jump all over the place.
I’m a total Apple nut, but I feel like they’re moving more into the services arena because they KNOW they aren’t innovating like they used to. I feel like very soon, their products are just going to disappear into the crowd, instead of REALLY standing out as they have in the past. Since that equates to less revenue, boom! we jump into services for more revenue.
I’d prefer to see them double down their focus on products, both hardware & software & continue to innovate there.