Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 technology
Tuesday 26 March 2019
Apple is jumping belatedly into the streaming TV business

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE and CEO Tim Cook, nearly eight
TALI ARBEL years to draw up the plan
AP Technology Writers the company will now try
CUPERTINO, California (AP) to execute.
— Jumping belatedly into “Apple is very late to this
a business dominated by game,” eMarketer analyst
Netflix and Amazon, Apple Paul Verna said. “Netflix
announced its own TV and has become the gold stan-
movie streaming service dard in how to create and
Monday, enlisting such distribute content, using all
superstars as Oprah Win- the data they have about
frey, Jennifer Aniston and their viewers.”
Steven Spielberg to try to Industry analyst Colin Gillis
overcome its rivals’ head of Chatham Road Partners
start. said Apple TV Plus is “not
Apple didn’t disclose the going to be a Netflix killer.”
price or the launch date And Martin Garner of CCS
except to say that Apple Insights said the service so
TV Plus will be available this far lacks “the full range and
diversity of content avail-
able through Netflix, Ama-
zon and others.”
Apple has reportedly spent
more than $1 billion on its
original TV shows and mov-

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new products ies — far less than Netflix
Monday, March 25, 2019, in Cupertino, Calif. and HBO spend every year.
Associated Press It has plenty of money to
fall. It will feature Apple’s But Apple has lots of mon- cast. spend, though, with about
original shows and movies. ey, more than 900 million Netflix stock rose $5.22 to $245 billion in cash and
The company also un- active iPhones, and a track $366.23 Monday. Apple’s marketable securities.
veiled a news subscription record for innovation that stock fell $2.31 to $188.74. As part of its effort to catch
service that will give cus- has enabled it to overtake Among the upcoming pro- up, Apple hired two long-
tomers access to roughly its rivals, even when it en- grams on the new Apple time Sony television execu-
300 magazines and a few ters a business late, as it did service will be Winfrey- tives in 2017. They have
major newspapers for $10 a with smartphones, tablets created documentaries; signed up stars such as
month. And it announced and smartwatches. a show about TV morning Spielberg, Ron Howard
a new credit card. On the other hand, those talk shows, starring Aniston, and Sofia Coppola.
The video-streaming ven- markets were still small and Reese Witherspoon and Winfrey received a stand-
ture is fraught with risk undeveloped at the time Steve Carell; and a sci-fi ing ovation during her ap-
for a company desper- Apple jumped in. Stream- show called “Amazing Sto- pearance at Apple’s an-
ate to diversify beyond its ing video, by contrast, is ries” from Spielberg. nouncement Monday in
star product, the iPhone, dominated by huge ser- Apple TV Plus will be fea- Cupertino.
whose sales have started vices like Netflix, Amazon tured in the existing Apple “I’m joining forces with Ap-
to decline . Netflix, which and Hulu, with more seem- TV app, which brings to- ple,” she said. “They’re in a
started its streaming ser- ing to appear almost daily, gether different streaming billion pockets, y’all.”
vice in 2007, has 139 million including AT&T’s Time services such as HBO and Apple News Plus, the news
subscribers worldwide. Warner, Disney and Com- Showtime and traditional subscription service, will in-
cable subscriptions. clude such major papers
Video will be delivered to as The Wall Street Journal
iPhones and iPads, Ap- and the Los Angeles Times.
ple’s own Apple TV de- Other major newspaper
vice, smart TVs and, soon, publishers have report-
streaming gadgets from edly been wary of Apple’s
Roku and Amazon. terms.
Netflix, which isn’t included The Journal said its full slate
in the Apple TV app, turned of stories won’t be avail-
“binge watching” into a able for the Apple service,
worldwide phenomenon though it will provide gen-
several years ago and has eral-interest articles.
become a powerhouse in Apple said advertisers
both Silicon Valley and Hol- won’t track readers inside
lywood. the app. That will distin-
Apple was long focused guish it from Facebook and
on making on gadgets: Google, the other major
iPhones, iPads, computers. online news hubs.
Apple co-founder Steve The company’s new Mas-
Jobs toyed with the idea of tercard credit card, called
building a powerful TV busi- Apple Card, won’t have
ness but couldn’t pull it off any late fees or annual
before his death in 2011. fees and will offer 2 per-
It has taken his successor, cent cash back.q