Well it looks like the rumors are indeed correct and we have an event scheduled
for Monday March 25th.
At the Steve Jobs theater in Cupertino California. Now the events titled
It's Showtime a throwback to 2006 when Steve Jobs announced the very first
iteration of the Apple TV case you don't know internally with reference
as ITV. Now given that we know the date and the theme of the event the
next logical question is what is Apple going to talk about on stage
Well let's unpack everything we know up to this point and see if we can put
together a clear picture. I am Mike and this is tech 24/7 TV.
Let's get started.
First up we have Apple further diversifying its services revenue with the
expected launch of the texture magazine new service from last year's acquisition.
Now the magazine service it's expected to cost nine ninety nine per month
and will be integrated right into Apple News which is the second rumored
service that will get a paid tier of premium access to content like the
New York Times The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to name
a few publications. It's also rumored that Apple news and magazine will
expand outside the original launch markets which were the U.S. the U.K.
and Australia to have more of a global footprint that match Apple Music
and iTunes. While I absolutely love to read I don't find myself having
copious amounts of free time to read for pleasure anymore because you know
I have a family I have a job I do this I often end up losing to audio books
at a fast speed during household chores and working out and such. Now who's
with me on the audio books now. Here Here here's a protip kind of just to deviate
for a moment if you are stateside your local library has audio books that
you could check out for free. And it avoids the cost of having to pay audible
or I know it is no secret that Apple's been building an epic war chest
of original content to go into battle with Netflix Amazon and HBO over
consumers wallets and eyeballs. If If we are indeed going to see a video subscription
service at the March 25th event and this subscription service is supposed
to be an end all be all answer to those providers. The next logical question
I have is how is Apple going to differentiate the service from the competition
so much that it makes me want to cancel these other services because at
this point unless Apple is going to make the service for free I simply
cannot subscribe to another one off channel because I have subscription
fatigue and I imagine many of you feel the same way because you probably
don't have a cable television subscription and you can most your content online.
You probably pay Amazon ninety nine dollars a year for access to 2G delivery
and by extension you're getting Amazon Prime Video. But who really watches
Amazon Prime Video because the content sucks and it's not like you're gonna
give up access to to day delivery because you're not an animal right
You either have your own Netflix account or you're sharing it with a family
member or a friend right. And the final season of Game of Thrones is coming
on in like six weeks so you're definitely something back to HBO for three
months because you're not going to miss the final season of Game of Thrones.
Right there you're paying between 20 and 30 dollars per month when you
factor in your annual Amazon subscription. Now that does include your music
subscription from Apple Music or Spotify it does include things like YouTube
Red or YouTube premium on whatever hell they call it these days. Nor does
it include Dropbox or Google or even iCloud for your photos and documents
because Apple can't give you anything bigger than 5 gigabytes of storage.
Now it is a significant amount of money when you add it all up at the end
of month and even kind of lives. It's It's much more impactful when you think
about on an annual basis. Now if Apple wants to compete for more of my
money and believe you me my wife hates to give Apple more money Apple will
need to come to the event with an holistic pricing approach that is one
monthly fee that includes many different services something that kind of
bundles Apple Music ie cloud storage news and magazines maybe even Apple
Care or how Apple Books and it would be great if it was one price that
I paid once a month. Much like my iPhone upgrade program payment while
I do think this is a very tough nut to crack I do think Apple has pricing
top of mind and that they will come to this event with inclusive pricing
that considers customers much like you and me who are consuming more than
just one or two of their services. Now let me know if you're experiencing
similar fatigue with subscriptions and how many there are available in
the comments below. Now the question of pricing and a host of other questions
are sure to get answered as the Apple leadership team takes the stage on
March 25th. In addition those new services Apple should release the latest
versions of its OS that go and include iPhone Mac Apple Watch and Apple TV.
The updated OS versions will enable access to the subscription services
but it's really not quite clear how Apple will launch the television streaming
service since the streaming service is not bundled and told not to. And.
Who knows whether or not they're going to make it an app that's downloadable
through the app store or whether we'll be actually integrated into AOS
now on the hardware. Apple confirmed that this event will be live streamed
a tip they had so to speak that we should see new hardware as a very special
guest at this event. As a side note if you are interested I will be hosting
a livestream on March 25th during and after event kind of talking through
the products and hope to see you all there. Here is what we can piece together.
Thus far. Apple started seeing the latest version of Iaw and Mako west
bay doors in January of this year. And since that time developers like
Steve and Sean Smith and a host of all other super sleuths have been uncovering
various bits of code that reference a new iPad mini a seventh generation
iPad and of all things an iPod Touch. We practically have confirmation
from Apple themselves as they complete the registration for these new tablet
devices in the early part of this year with the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Now unfortunately it does not look like these new iPads will have face I.D.
and carry over similar sounding as what we see today. At least that's what's
been found in the betas thus far. Well Well here is my biggest iPad question.
If the current nine point seven inch iPod works with the first generation
Apple pencil do we expect to retain compatibility with the new iPad and
maybe even the iPad Mini. Well it isn't exactly consumer friendly to remove
Apple pencil compatibility nor do I think Apple would make kind of a foolish
move in May consumers upgrade to the news Apple pencil if they just purchased
one last year. Now I personally would love to see an iPad mini. Know something
I wrote in my pocket that worked with the apple pencil. That would be fantastic.
You have to have pretty vague pockets or carpenter pockets using history
as our guide sic. We know that every year since the Apple Watch was first introduced.
Apple has a refresh watch bands in addition to leather cases in silicone
cases twice a year in the spring and fall. Who knows maybe Apple throws
a curve ball and released updated leather sleeves for the new iPad Pro
in spring colors just not pink. Please Please don't don't do pink. In addition
to the hints of code that are referencing to the new iPods and the refreshing
of accessories Apple has a track record of updating the iPhone line to
the proper variant in the springtime since the iPhone 7 and seven plus
were introduced. Now we already have an iPhone that is available in product
RED so that will leave the iPhone tennis and tennis Max to get refreshed
in that right color. I don't know how much sense that makes it from the standpoint.
I mean who's really going to buy a flagship iPhone starting at 9 ninety
nine in red mid-year unless they actually have to write. Finally rounding
out the hardware we have two very strong rumors that Apple's second generation
airports are ready to hit the shelves in not one but two colors
Unfortunately it's not very clear if airports who are going to hit the shelves day and
date the event or if it will be later that week as it's rumored by two
different Web sites. Now I'll be hosting a live chat both during and after
the event on March 25th. I'll link it below in the description if you want
to go ahead and nerd out with other app on those views about products that
just came out. Let me know what you're most excited for and I will go ahead
and see you on the 25th hit like hit subscribe and I will talk to the next one.