Apple's March 25 Event "It's Showtime": Video, Apple News & More

Apple sent out invites to journalists and media outlets about its upcoming March 25th event to be held in the Steve Jobs Theater.

Apple’s invitation included a video titled “It’s Showtime” - a tagline it used back in September 2006 when the company first debuted Apple TV. The invite did not offer details about the event’s topics, though the company is expected to reveal subscription services for Apple News, a new streaming video option and possibly, a gaming service as well. Last week, the Cupertino tech giant cleared the deck of any product speculation by announcing a slew of product upgrades for its iPad Air, 5th generation iPad mini, new iMac and iMac Pro models.

While Apple did not reveal details in its invite, the invitation had an animation with a film leader countdown similar to video. The unconfirmed video subscription service is expected to launch later in the year. Apple already has a wide range of original TV shows and movies in development.

Apple’s March 25th event will live stream at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Apple’s website.

Last year, Apple held a March event focused on education with a few hardware releases such as an updated iPad.

Publishers Flinch At Apple's News Subscription Plan Based on Revenue Split and Subscriber Data Access

Apple Likely to Keep 50% of Revenue Profits in News Deal Without Sharing Customer Data with Publishers

Apple’s proposed subscription plan for publishers on Apple News where Apple takes a 50 percent cut of all publisher revenue and does not reveal customer data to publishers, has been a topic of frustration for many large publishers. It’s also apparently the issue that is halting the full launch of the expected new subscription service, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Apple News gives news organizations and publishers access to millions of upscale new customers. Apple has pitched publishers that it will help them expand their subscription base significantly. Since it acquired the digital magazine provider Texture, Apple has been considering offering a new subscription service. The first beta iOS 12.2 suggested the upcoming launch of a new “Apple News Magazine.’ Texture is an app that allows users to read an unlimited amount of magazine content for a single $9.99 monthly subscription. Apple is expected to emulate this model, while integrating Texture into Apple News as a premium product.

The current proposal according to the Wall Street Journal, is for Apple to keep half of publisher revenue via the $10/month subscription for individual consumers. The remaining income would be distributed among publishers based on user engagement with content. Financial terms seems to be at the heart of negotiations, although some well known publications such as the New York Times and the Washington Post also have concerns about licensing content with other requirements.

In a standard subscription, a publisher would have access to data about individual subscribers such as credit card details, email addresses and more. Publishers then build their own detailed customer databases that are used to market additional products and services to subscribers. Discussions are still underway so some changes may occur to this proposed deal.

As Apple iPhone Sales Slow Down, Service Revenue Expected to Pick Up the Slack

Given that Apple’s iPhone revenue has dropped in the first fiscal quarter by 15% due to more expensive iPhone models, customers holding on to their iPhones longer and a more mature smartphone market, Apple is expected to find alternate sources of steady income such as its booming services revenue business. Apple’s accelerating services business includes app-store sales, streaming-music subscriptions and mobile payments. The company has a growing subscriber base with over 56 million subscribers for Apple Music reported last summer.

Subscriptions are sold by Apple across its devices to services and third-party services. 2019 subscriptions and service revenues are estimated. Sources: Apple, FactSet. Images via WSJ — Subscriptions are sold by Apple across its devices to services and third-party services. 2019 subscriptions and service revenues are estimated.
Sources: Apple, FactSet. Images via WSJ

A Morgan Stanley analyst estimated that Apple could reach a trillion dollar valuation again if the company chose to offer a new media bundle offering, tying in its subscriptions such as Apple Music, new proposed Apple News and original TV programming via Apple TV. Apple is expected to launch a new video subscription service in March. Previously, Apple CEO Tim Cook had said that Apple would be part of the breakdown of the cable bundle.

Apple is also seeking to grow its paid subscription services across all devices to 500 million by 2020. Currently, subscriptions stand at 360 million today. The subscription service may also lean on Apple’s iCloud services to back up and save purchased content.

The news industry has faced numerous challenges and woes in the last 15 years with the rise of large technology companies. Facebook offered large traffic for publishers for many years, but with the change to its News Feed, has increased audience and revenue losses for some companies. Previously, Google came under fire from publishers as it allowed readers to avoid digital paywalls. This practice has been stopped since then.

Some publishers like Time significantly benefit from digital subscriptions. The Times charges $15/month, while the Post charges $10/month and the Wall Street Journal charges $39/month and taxes. Moving to Apple News might end up lowering value for these companies, creating lower-revenue Apple subscribers and affect their existing profitable revenue streams.

Despite these concerns, tech platforms offer a significant opportunity. Apple News comes installed on iPhones and is a free service. It allows users to choose news based on a topic or publication. This opens up access to millions of news consumers, who have the freedom to choose what they wish to read and engage with at any time. For publishers, this is a large opportunity to tap into new markets of upscale consumers.

On the existing Apple News platform, news publishers already distribute some of their articles for free. The news organizations keep 100% of all revenue generated from any ads they sell for these articles and 70% of revenue from ads appearing by articles that they do not sell. Apple’s new subscription service would expand access to these outlets, adding new content that currently is only accessible behind digital paywalls.

iOS 12.2 Beta Mentions New iPads and 7th-Generation iPod Touch Yet to Be Launched

New software beta indicates new iPads and an updated iPod touch arriving soon.

The new iOS 12.2 launched earlier this week as a public beta, comes a few days after the beta was released for developers. The update is available via over the air updates. Apple is expected to launch a low cost iPad with a 10-inch screen and a new iPad mini. The beta software also appears to indicate that the new iPad mini would work with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.

In the Maps app, there's a new option that can be activated by the Maps section of the Settings app to show Air Quality alongside weather readings.

iOS 12.2 expands upon Apple News, launching in Canada for the first time, accessible in both English and French for iPhone and iPad users. The update also hints at a possible Apple News subscription feature, where a Texture magazine can be added to Apple News. Apple appears to be internally testing a possible subscription magazine option "Apple NewsMagazines," via Apple News, according to images located in iOS 12.2 by 9to5Mac where customers can subscribe in the Apple News app.

iOS 12.2 also introduces HomeKit and AirPlay 2 for third-party televisions and also has a new TV remote in the Control Center. Additional updates include changes to the Wallet app, the Downtime feature in Screen Time and a new addition to Safari. iOS 12.2 also brings in more Siri support in a newer version of AirPods.

As always, the software to be beta tested several times before public launch.