Over the past few years, many people have been extremely critical of Apple’s lack of innovation since the death of company figurehead Steve Jobs.
With their stranglehold on the smartphone market dwindling, the tech giant needed to shake things up.
They did just that with their latest presentation.
During Monday’s event, CEO Tim Cook — along with Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg — revealed the company’s plans for one of it’s boldest business ventures yet, their very own streaming platform.
With their plans to make moves in the increasingly crowded streaming space, Apple TV + is a subscription-based service that will be available on Apple devices and other steaming-friendly devices like ROKU.
The company would produce its own shows and films, following in the footprints of other corporate giants like Amazon.
While the video streaming market is obviously the way of the future, with recent estimates booming to $124.57 billion by 2025, Apple is attempting to dive head first into a very saturated market.
In fact, according to a recent survey, nearly half of all consumers think there’s ALREADY too many streaming services.
“While Apple may introduce a bigger roster of original content than Amazon and Netflix during their respective launches, the streaming market has arguably already reached a level [of] saturation and consumer fatigue in the United States,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Chatham Road Partners told CNN. “Apple is late to the party.”
The biggest fish in the streaming pond, Netflix, has an incredible 22 million subscribers and is holding strong even despite recent price spikes.
If Apples wants to make a dent, they’ll need to sink billions of dollars into the project and make top-notch content right away to even compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo and Amazon Prime Video.
Along with its new streaming service, the company also announced the Apple Card. That’s right. They’re trying to get their very own credit card going this summer.
Building off the established Apple Pay technology built into iPhones, Apple is promising its customers a simpler experience with easy applications, no fees, lower interest rates, and better rewards.
Customers will be able to sign up for their card via their Apple Wallet apps, where the company claims they’ll be able to track purchases, check their balances and pay their bills right there on their phones.
Keeping with the brands simplistic, streamlined aesthetic, the card itself will be titanium with an off-white finish with no card number, CVV code, expiration date or signature on it. All of that information will be stored in your phone and will process through when purchases are made.
Apple seems to have security in mind with many aspects of the card. Apple Pay VP Jennifer Baily promised customers on stage at the event that “Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it,” and promising that their partner on the card, Goldman Sachs “will never sell your data to third parties for marketing and advertising.”
Apple wants to be everything for everyone like it’s biggest tech rival Google. They want to have a service for everything their user might need, from phones to tablets to streaming devices to credit cards.
It’s yet to be seen if this is a tight rope that Apple can successfully walk.