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Apple Special Event on March 25 - How to watch Live
On Monday Apple Inc invited media to a March 25 event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, where it is expected to launch a television, video service and its news subscription service.
How to watch it live
This star-studded event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater at the company's Apple Park campus in Cupertino. CNET will have a group of veteran Apple watchers on the scene, backed up by dozens more around the world along with some celebrities and media moguls thrown into the mix.
Preshow start time: 9:30 p.m. IST
Start time and where to watch: 10:30 p.m. What the live video feed of the event on Apple's website.
Live blog from Cupertino: We'll have a full team live-blogging on-site, including Connie Guglielmo, Joan Solsman and Shara Tibken.
Expectations from Apple's Netflix killer
Don't expect any new products at this event (Apple already announced that new line-up ahead of the event), the main headliners, according to the reports, will be Apple's new subscription services.
Over a year and $1 billion dollars after we first heard news of it, Apple appears to be ready to reveal the new video streaming service. It's no secret Apple has been gearing up to launch its own original content for a Netflix-style streaming service with at least 25 original shows ranging from dramas, comedies, document series and kids' programmes. Big name celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Garner, and directors like J.J. Abrams and Stephen Spielberg are on board, some of whom may actually be attending the event.
But even a powerful tech giant like Apple could have an uphill climb in this new arena with established players such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video and soon even Disney maybe all striving for your screen time.
A report from recent New York Times says Apple may also face a culture clash when it comes to dealing with Hollywood. Apple's secretive nature seems to be one of the concerns for people working with the company as noted in the report. We're used to the company is tight-lipped about its products, but apparently, even the other players involved with Apple don't have much clarity as to the release time and marketing plans for some of its shows. The report also says that Apple has been sensitive about how technology, specifically its own products, will be portrayed on the shows.
But Apple's may not be relying solely on its own content for success. The Bloomberg report tells the Cupertino giant is courting some bigger names like Showtime, HBO and Starz to join its streaming service. One player who's definitely out of the mix: Netflix. The company's CEO Reed Hastings confirmed that the company will not be part of Apple's streaming service, and warned space will get very competitive, very soon.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Apple's Senior Vice President Eddy Cue revealed the company is not interested in licensing sports content at this time.
Instead, they seem to have their eye on becoming a sort of middle man between the fans and the action with a curated sports experience within the TV app. So don't expect any live sports on the service any time soon either.
Apple may even be willing to explore offering up its content for free to attract more eyeballs to its services. Rich Greenfield, an analyst for BTIG suggests Apple's original shows could be free for iOS users, with the option to pay a subscription fee to add other providers to the service. Though we won't know the exact payment mode in certain until the event.
Magazine Service
The other big service announcement could come as a subscription news service. Apple's news service would be a premium subscription plan on its current News app that would allow users to view content from different publishers (magazine and newspapers). The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal are just some of the major news outlets rumoured to be in talks with Apple to be part of this service. But the Wall Street Journal report says the publishers are hesitant to sign on because Apple would take 50 per cent of the revenue from the service.
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Apple Credit Card
And the last thing Apple could announce at this event could be a credit card. As per Bloomberg, iOS 12.2 will bring a co-branded Apple credit card in affiliation with Goldman Sachs. It's said that it will be just like a regular credit card, including purchase rewards and up to 2 per cent cash back. It is expected to live in your Wallet - the digital one.
