Apple event highlights – Netflix-style TV streaming app

APPLE'S press event at its California HQ is over, and we've seen major announcements – including a new TV app and an Apple credit card.

The biggest news was the launch of a Netflix-style subscription service for TV and movies, which features content from stars like Steve Carell and Jennifer Aniston.

Apple has also created an Arcade subscription service for games, a paid-for News+ service, and launched a credit card called Apple Card to boot.

The event took place at 5pm on Monday, at the Steve Jobs Theatre inside the new Apple Park HQ, in Cupertino, California.

Apple focused entirely on entertainment and services (rather than any hardware), but that's no surprise.

Just last week, Apple announced a slew of new gadgets, including the iPad mini 5, the iPad Air 3, some new iMac computers and new Apple AirPods.

The star-studded event saw celebs like Oprah Winfrey come on stage to talk up Apple's new Netflix rival, TV+
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The star-studded event saw celebs like Oprah Winfrey come on stage to talk up Apple's new Netflix rival, TV+
For a full guide to today's announcements, read below:

Apple TV+ – a TV streaming service to rival Netflix
Apple announced a new streaming service called Apple TV+.

The heavily rumoured service was leaked extensively in the run-up to today’s event – but it’s finally official.

“Apple has always tried to make the world a better place,” said Tim Cook, who revealed the firm was launching a new service to tell great stories.

Apple has been working on the service for years, investing billions of dollars into content.

We know from previous Apple reports that a number of high-profile stars are on board with the project – including TV legend Oprah Winfrey, who has signed up to a multi-year content partnership.

Celebs involved with Apple's new TV+ streaming service include Oprah Winfrey, Octavia Spencer, Reese Witherspoon, and Jennifer Aniston.

It's also confirmed that J.J. Abrams, M Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg are on board to produce content for the service.

Spielberg is producing a TV series called Amazing Stories, which will have a science fiction theme.

He thanked “the visionary and inventive folks here at Apple” for working with him on the project.

It's expected that Amazing Stories will be an anthology series, which each episode taking a standalone format – like Black Mirror, but less dark (and certainly less depressing).

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon also turned up on stage to talk about Apple TV+.

They’re working on a show called The Morning Show, which is a fictional series set on a live morning news show in the USA.

“We take an honest look at the complex relationships between women and men in the workplace,” said Jen, talking about her new show.

The pair were joined on stage by acting legend Steve Carell, who will also be working on the show.

Apple also rolled out other Hollywood celebs, including Game of Thrones/Aquaman legend Jason Momoa and Star Trek actress Alfre Woodard.

And also on stage was Kumail Nanjiani, who will be familiar to tech boffs as a star of hit comedy Silicon Valley – which lampoons tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft.

All three are creating content for Apple TV+, although no footage of their telly has been revealed yet (and may not be, potentially).

Apple (or rather Big Bird) also confirmed that there would be a new Sesame Street themed show.

It will be built around coding/programming, and aimed at children (obviously).

Apple showed off some snippets of footage from its new TV shows, just after confirming that the range of content would include documentaries, dramas, children’s content and comedies.

It’s hard to give a verdict right now, but the production quality seems high – which shouldn’t come as surprise to anyone, given Apple’s multi-billion-dollar budget.

And Apple has managed to rope in top-tier talent across acting, production and direction – so Netflix should be a little worried.

The TV+ service will be available on the new Apple TV app on all of your Apple devices, as well as Smart TVs.

The service is ad-free, on-demand, available online and offline (via downloads), released in 100+ countries and will launch in the autumn.

As expected, TV legend Oprah Winfrey was on site to talk about her partnership with the iPhone maker.

The company announced a multi-year content buddy-up with Oprah in June last year, but details have been light.

On stage, Oprah confirmed that she has two documentaries in the works.

One is called Toxic Labour, about sexual harassment in the workplace.

Another (currently unnamed) is a multi-part series about mental health, covering topics like addiction and loss.

“We want to one heard, but we also need to listen. That’s why I’m joining forces with Apple,” Oprah said.

Apple News+ – a premium news service
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a brand new service called Apple News+, which is a premium version of Apple News for magazines.

That means you’ll have to pay for a monthly subscription.

He invited Roger Rosner, VP of Applications at Apple, to the stage, who revealed that the service would bring 3,000 magazines to Apple customers.

These magazines would include titles across a range of topics, including Men’s Health, Town & Country, Esquire, Conde Nast Traveller, The Atlantic and Vanity Fair.

Just like Apple News, it has top stories, trending stories, and personalised recommendations in For You.

Magazines will be presented with “Live Covers” are like animated versions of the covers you’d see at a typical newsstand in a shop.

Apple News+ also includes premium digital subscriptions – not just magazines.

These include theSkimm, TechCrunch, and Vulture, as well as the Los Angeles Times.

And as rumoured, Apple News+ includes the Wall Street Journal, published by News Corp.

That’s a major coup for Apple, especially as it’s rumoured that the New York Times turned down an offer from the iPhone maker.

Apple also noted that it doesn’t allow advertisers to track you – so what you read about in Apple News won’t follow you across the web.

If you were to subscribe to all the content included with Apple News+, it would cost you $8,000 (~£6,000) a year.

But Apple is charging just $9.99 – and the first month is free, to boot.

You can also make your subscription available to an entire family with Family Sharing at no extra charge, giving all members full access to the catalogue – with their own favourites and personal recommendations.

It’s available today – just download today’s updates for macOS and iOS.

Sadly, the service is only launching in the USA and Canada for now. But later this year, it’ll be coming to Europe, starting with the UK.

Apple Arcade – a gaming subscription service
The company is launching a service called Apple Arcade, which is a gaming subscription service for your phone, computer and living room TV.

The fruity firm is curating a roster of games, and even getting involved with their development.

A single subscription to Apple Arcade gives you access to more than 100 new and exclusive games.

You won’t find the games on any other mobile platform or subscription platform.

The games will be available on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV.

And every game will be playable offline “unlike streaming services”, Apple revealed – jabbing at Google’s online-only Stadia service, announced just last week.

The service will have zero ads and no additional purchases.

And parents can manage their childrens’ access using Screen Time controls.

The service will be available in autumn in 150+ countries around the world.

However, Apple declined to reveal pricing – which likely means the company hasn’t settled on a cost yet.

Apple generally charges around the £10 mark for service subscriptions, so expect something similar.

Apple made a surprise announcement of a service called Apple Card.

“There are some things about the credit card experience that could be so much better,” said Tim Cook, before inviting his Apple Pay chief on stage.

“We have completely rethought the credit card,” said Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay.

You can sign up on your iPhone and start using it worldwide anywhere where Apple Pay is accepted – including online.

It’ll be available across all of your devices, and lets you track your payments and credit amount.

You can even send iMessage texts to Apple for customer support.

Apple Card will highlight how you’re spending money, splitting it into categories.

This will reveal what you’re spending money on – like groceries or entertainment.

The idea is that this will help you cut back on excess, spotting bad spending trends.

Apple confirmed that you’d get cash-back whenever you spend through a feature called Daily Cash.

So when you’re buying a coffee or shopping for groceries (or any other time you pay with Apple Card), you get Daily Cash.

Every day you spend, cash is added to your Apple Cash card (inside the Wallet app).

You can use it absolutely anywhere, and can even send the cash to friends using Messages.

The Daily Cash amount is set at 2%, which upgrades to 3% if you’re spending on Apple goodies.

The amount of Daily Cash you can receive is unlimited, to boot.

Apple Card has no late fees, no annual fees, no international fees and no over-limit fees.

The issuing bank backing Apple Card is Goldman Sachs, and Apple is also working with MasterCard on the project.

There’s also a physical card available, built from titanium with no card number of CVV on the back.

That’s so you can still access funds in places where Apple Pay isn’t accepted.

However, you only get 1% Daily Cash if you make purchases with the physical card.