Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 28 March 2019
The good, bad and the unknown of Apple’s new services

By BARBARA ORTUTAY ed). Apple is touting “richly
AP Technology Writer designed articles” that let
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It people read publications
took a while, but finally — tailored to Apple devices
and with the carefully cu- in all their glory. Apple has
rated help of Oprah, Big also included privacy pro-
Bird and Goldman Sachs tections, and says it will col-
— Apple has at last un- lect data about what peo-
veiled a new streaming TV ple read in a way that it
service, its own branded won’t know who read what
credit card and a news — just how much total time
subscription product. is spent on different articles.
The moves have been The bad: While The Los An-
largely expected and so geles Times and the Wall
far don’t appear to dras- Street Journal have signed
tically alter the competi- on, other big-name news
tive landscape the way publishers, such as The New
Apple has done with pre- York Times, have not. Nor
vious products such as the have, in fact, most other
iPhone and the iPad. major U.S. newspapers.
Still, the announcements The unknown: It’s not en-
represent an important tirely clear how much news
step for the company as In this Sunday, March 24, 2019 photo people walk on a pedestrian walkway, in Boston's Seaport you’re getting for your mon-
it seeks to diversify how it district. ey. The Journal, famous for
makes money amid de- Associated Press its business and industry
clining sales of the iPhone, coverage and command-
even if by themselves they don’t know. lysts say is likely to produce the bandwidth for. ing nearly $40 a month, will
are unlikely to turn Apple’s — APPLE TV PLUS some hit shows. The unknown: Apple hasn’t make “specially curated”
big ship either way. But it’s The good: Oprah, Jason The bad: Even so, “it will said how much it’s going to general-interest news avail-
a way to keep fans stick- Momoa, Big Bird, Steven lack the full range and di- cost. able for Apple customers,
ing with Apple even when Spielberg and a host of versity of content available — APPLE NEWS PLUS for example. Other sto-
they aren’t buying a new other stars have lent them- through Netflix, Amazon The good: The price, $10 ries will still be there — but
iPhone every year. selves to original Apple and others, and that is set to per month, looks like a Apple says users will have
Monday’s announcements shows that range from doc- limit its appeal,” said Martin good deal compared to to search for the articles
lacked some key details, umentaries to science fic- Garner, an analyst at CCS separate subscriptions for themselves.
such as pricing of the TV tion, drama and preschool Insight. Apple also joins a newspapers and maga- — APPLE CARD
service. Here’s a rundown television programming. crowded market and it’s zines (Apple will include The good: Security and
on what Apple unveiled — The focus on “quality sto- not clear how many more more than 300 of the lat- privacy, two areas Apple
what’s good, what’s not rytelling” is consistent with monthly subscriptions peo- ter, including The New prides itself on, are a clear
so good and what we still Apple’s image and ana- ple have the money and Yorker and Sports Illustrat- focus. q

Apple vs. Netflix: Why turf wars are flaring in big tech

By MATT O’BRIEN he made the company fo- out over voice assistants
AP Technology Writer cus,” Enderle said. in the home. Google and
Apple’s latest move into These are different times, Microsoft have competing
streaming video illustrates however, and Apple may search engines. And Apple
an escalating trend: Tech’s have decided that it and Google have waged
biggest companies, faced doesn’t have much choice an epic smartphone battle
with limits to their growth, amid declining sales of for roughly a decade.
are encroaching on each its premier product, the But longtime tech indus-
other’s turf. iPhone. try analyst Tim Bajarin sees
Apple is taking on Netflix. “They have kind of bled the new urgency in the latest
Facebook is edging into device market dry,” said push into streaming ser-
Amazon’s sphere with its e- Sally Edgar, of UK-based vices and other businesses
commerce plans. Google, technology consultancy that bring in continuous
which has already chal- Waterstons. “Companies flows of money — not just
lenged Amazon and Mi- will increasingly be about when consumers make big
crosoft in cloud comput- subscription services. I think investments in new phones
ing, is launching an online Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, speaks at the Steve they have to do it to sur- or other hardware.
game service that could Jobs Theater during an event to announce new products Mon- vive.” “It’s just becoming clearer
undercut the lucrative day, March 25, 2019, in Cupertino, Calif. Tech companies, of today that the only way a
game-console business at Associated Press course, have explored company is going to grow
Microsoft and Sony. new markets and fought is by adding a recurring
Apple, which is also launch- analyst Rob Enderle said. “This is much more diversity turf battles over them for revenue model,” Bajarin
ing a gaming service and “This is an awful lot of than Apple’s ever had.” years. said. “Apple is becoming
introducing its own credit breadth really quickly for a Before, when the com- Facebook and Google an aggregator of content.
card , may be veering the company that hasn’t been pany’s product suite grew have long scrapped over They now have multiple
most outside its comfort known for being great at too varied, “what Steve digital ads. Google and services that will help them
zone, technology industry breadth,” Enderle said. Jobs did with Apple was, Amazon are battling it grow their bottom line.”q