Apple launches credit card, plus news, entertainment, games subscription service
Apple has recruited Hollywood’s heavy hitters with a service that pitches original content and more than 100,000 movie titles.
Apple has entered the credit card business and launched news, entertainment and games subscription services at an overnight event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters.
Apple says its new credit card, Apple Card, will be available digitally on Apple devices and as a physical credit card. It will be usable throughout the world, and instead of rewards, Apple will give users daily cash rewards of 1pc, 2pc and 3pc.
Apple made the announcement at an event where it also promoted a new subscription news service, News+, a subscription games service and entertainment service.
Without naming names, it took a swipe at Google and Facebook by saying that no data about subscriptions, credit card purchases, app usage and program preferences would be shared, and there would be no advertisements.
Other tech companies and advertisers will be locked out of garnering usage in the Apple ecosphere. Unknown is whether Apple will use information for its own advertising services.
The glitzy announcement was the TV+ which included a raft of bespoke series. Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steven Spielberg and Steve Carell were among Hollywood celebrities rolled out on stage for the announcement of Apple TV+ service.
Witherspoon and Aniston spoke about their coming morning show.
Oprah says she will meet all kinds of people, including authors from across the world. “I want to convene a meeting of the minds that connects us through books,” she told the audience.
Jason Momoa was there to preview one of Apple’s sci-fi shows, where the earth is devastated by a virus that leaves only a few survivors who are blind. No one can conceptualise sight as we know it.
Apple card
The least anticipated announcement however was Apple Card, which CEO Tim Cook said was the most significant change to the credit card system in 50 years.
Apple says it is partnering with Goldman Sachs as credit card issuer and will use Mastercard to make its credit card available throughout the world. You sign up to it using an iPhone.
Apple says it will cut through banking fees. There will be no late fees, annual fees, international fees, overdue fees, and no penalty interest fees.
Cook said Apple would offer lower interest rates. A calculator in the app would help you work out repayment options.
You can view purchases on Apple Maps, and track transactions by spending categories.
The cash rewards will be paid daily and will be 3pc for Apple-related purchases, for example through iTunes, 2pc for day-to-day transactions and 1pc when using the physical credit card.
The credit card number is stored in a secure element on the phone, and every purchase has its own security code, and can be authenticated with touch ID and face ID.
It says Apple itself doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it.
Apple says it has an assurance that Goldman Sachs will never sell your data to third parties for advertising.
The physical credit card doesn’t display a card number or expiration date and signature. That information is kept securely in Apple Wallet.
The service will initially be available in the US mid year. There were no announcements around other countries.
Apple News+
Mr Cook said Australia would be one of only four countries to access Apple’s curated news service. It will be available in the US and Canada from now and in Australia and the UK later this year.
The service includes 300 curated magazines and a raft of online publications for a subscription cost in the US of $US9.99 per month. There is no information about an Australian subscription rate. Apple says it would cost more than $8000 to subscribe to all the content individually.
But it seems only a few major newspapers are on board — the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal are two.
That situation follows reports that Apple wants to take 50pc commission for News+ subscriptions, a rate that many newspapers resile against. Newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post have not joined the service.
In Australia, publications are taking a wait-and-see approach.
News Corp Australia, owner of The Australian, is understood to be closely watching the developments with interest to understand Apple’s plans before deciding whether to participate.
WSJ backs news foray
Chief executive of News Corporation Robert Thomson said the inclusion of The Wall Street Journal in the service “is a profound example of a technology company treating journalism and other premium content in a manner that benefits News Corp and the societies in which we operate”.
“As Tim Cook and the Apple team announced in California today, Apple News+ will feature coverage from The Wall Street Journal — the only US. national news brand joining this pioneering news subscription service at launch,” he says.
“By giving many millions of people access to the valuable, trusted journalism of The Wall Street Journal, we are confident this partnership will increase the Journal’s reach and readership dramatically.”
Apple says it will use an editing team to curate content it takes from publications, and artificial intelligence will be used to help personalise users’ news feeds.
The service will include more than 300 magazines across all sorts of topic: news, politics, entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, and travel being some.
The availability of these magazine follows Apple’s acquisition a year ago of Texture, a digital magazine subscription service run by Next Issue Media.
Magazines such as National Geographic will display animated “live covers” and Apple says it is reproducing magazine photo content in fine detail.
Apple says it doesn’t know what you read, and Apple doesn’t allow advertisers to track you.
“What you read in Apple news won’t follow you across the web,” its says.
As with other new services announced, Apple News+ will be available to families using its family sharing settings at no extra charge. The first month is free.
Apple arcade
Apple also announced a new Apple Arcade, a mobile gaming subscription service which will initially offer 100 exclusive games that can be played on mobile, Macs and Apple TVs. It says every game can be played offline and the Apple Arcade area will have its own tab in the apps store.
The offering includes original releases by creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong and Will Wright.
Apple says it is contributing to the development costs and working closely with creators to bring the games to life.
Apple Arcade is additional to the over 300,000 free and paid games available already in the apps store.
Apple again promised no ads and no additional in-game purchases, and no data will be collected or shared without permission. An arcade subscription can be shared across a family.
It will be available in more than 150 countries including Australia in the second half. Pricing is yet to come.
Apple TV+
The most anticipated announcement was Apple TV+, an extension of its Apple TV service with iTunes movie and series content, live TV channels and original content brought together in one app.
Apple says TV+ will be a global service with more than 100,000 movies and titles built into its new TV app. Content will be available to play offline.
The app will offer access to TV channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz, and news, sports and network TV services from satellite providers. Apple says users will pay for only the channels they want to watch. These channels will be available from May. The app also will offer suggestions for shows and movies from over 150 streaming apps.
The big lure is the original movie and show content. As anticipated, big Hollywood names such as Steven Spielberg, J J Abrams, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon were on stage to promote content.
Spielberg received a huge round of applause. “This is my first time at Apple, a place where imagination and technology join forces to change the world through sight and sound and touch,” he said.
He talked about his first encounter with science-fiction, through an anthology magazine called “Amazing Stories” which began publishing in 1926. “My father had devoured it when he was a boy, and when I was a little kid, he read this to me.”
Witherspoon and Anniston discussed their new Morning Show to be co-hosted with Steve Carell.
“In the morning show we pull back the curtain on the power dynamics between men and women in the high fix world of the morning news show,” Witherspoon explains. “It’s an insider’s view into the lives of the people that help America wake up every day.”
Oprah Winfrey said there was a unique opportunity for people to rise to their best selves in how they used technology and humanity, and to face the daunting challenges of the time. “Each of us comes to this earth with a deep potential that yearns to be fulfilled,” she said.
She said the iPhone was in one billion pockets and this would enable her to connect to people around the world to show the way to positive change. “That’s why I have joined forces with Apple,” she says.
“The Apple platform allows me to do what I do in a whole new way.”
Apple TV+ programs again will be add-free and one subscription will cover a family.
Apple TV channels will be available by a software update in May and the app will be available in the second half.
Apple says its TV app will be additionally available on smart TVs first with Samsung, then LG, Sony, and Vizio, and on set-top-boxes by Roku and Amazon.
The Apple TV app will be available in 10 countries including Australia, but the new app experience will be available in more than a hundred countries.
Apple will largely depend on this new content to take on Netflix in an established market where it is a new player.
It’s a risky venture for a tech giant that used to create new markets, now it is a fledgling operator in a long established one.
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