Apple News+, Apple Card, Apple Arcade & Apple TV+: Everything Apple Announced at its Show Time Event

"They're in a billion pockets, y'all" joked Oprah Winfrey, referring to the iPhone's ubiquity, as Apple pushed itself in a new direction with a mix of hardware, software and privacy-focussed services at its much anticipated Show Time event held at Cupertino today. There was an overhaul of its TV service, along with a lot of other subscription services around news, gaming, and finance, with CEO Tim Cook emphasising that "the customer is always at the centre of everything we do," while simultaneously hitting the privacy angle hard repeatedly over and over again. Although the Services line remains dominated by App Store commissions and TAC revenue (Google paid Apple almost US$ 10 billion in 2018 to remain the default search engine on Safari), Apple's new revenue strategy seems to be amply clear: take a cut of everything that happens on your phone by trying to bring more of its users inside the walled garden. Here is a quick recap of everything it announced:

Apple News+:

• Ad-free magazine subscription service with access to over 300 magazines (Wired, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Essence, and more), and premium digital subscriptions (The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Skimm, TechCrunch)
• Support for live moving-image magazine covers and tailored content for iPads and iPhones, and strong emphasis on privacy by employing on-device intelligence to make personalised recommendations (won't let advertisers track users on it, and it won't monitor what users read)
• Apple News/News+ launches in Canada with release of iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4 software updates
• Price: US$ 9.99/month, including support for family sharing at no extra cost (US$ 12.99 in Canada)
• Availability: Today in the U.S. and Canada (as an app update via App Store), Australia and U.K. rollout later in 2019

Apple Card Credit Card:

• Apple Pay on track to surpass 10 billion transactions in 2019, and is expected to be rolled out to 40 more countries by the end of the year
• Brings Apple Pay for public transit in the U.S. (Portland, Chicago and New York City), allowing public transport riders the ability to pay for fares using Apple Pay (the service is already available in major cities like London, Moscow, Tokyo and Guangzhou)
• Brand new digital and physical credit card service called Apple Card issued in partnership with Goldman Sachs (transactions processed via Mastercard)
• Daily Cash rewards program for purchases made via Apple Card, with users receiving 3 percent cash back for purchases directly with Apple, 2 percent for others
• No international fees, no late fees, no signup fees involved, and "Apple doesn't know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it"
• Physical titanium Apple Card for shopping in locations where Apple Pay is not accepted (no card number, no CVV, no expiration date, and requires no signature); eligible for 1 percent daily cash back
• Availability: This summer (U.S. only)

Apple Arcade:

• Cross-platform subscription games service for mobile, desktop, and the living room with access to over 100 new and exclusive titles in partnership with game developers
• A dedicated tab on the App Store app, and all games available offline across platforms with no ads, no in-app purchases and no user tracking (no data collection without user consent)
• Price: TBA
• Availability: Launching this fall in over 150 countries

Apple TV+:

• New slate of exclusive original programming in collaboration with Steven Spielberg (who recently chastised Netflix and claimed they should be exempt from the Oscars), Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Whithersoon, Chris Evans, Steve Carell, JJ Abrams, Sara Bareilles, and others
• Redesigned Apple TV app with new Apple TV Channels that will house original content and shows from iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, HBO, Starz, CBS All Access, Showtime, Nickelodeon, Mubi, The History Channel Vault, Comedy Central Now, and more
• Natively stream content ad-free from within the TV app, and pay only for channels you want
• New Apple TV apps for Mac (this fall), Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and select smart TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio
• Price: TBA
• Availability: This May for the redesigned app, set for launch later this fall in over 100 countries.