Apple today made several announcements on the innovative Apple iPhone 11, Watch Series 5, price of its streaming TV service, price of its video game service, among others, during a press meet.
Apple revealed on Tuesday that its streaming TV service will kick off Nov. 1 and cost $4.99 a month.
Apple TV+ will be available in 100 countries and buyers of an iPhone, iPad or Mac will get a free year of streaming television service.
Apple unveiled Apple iPhone 11 with several innovative features targeting global markets. It is not the first 5G smartphone from Apple. Apple will launch its first 5G smartphone in 2020. Apple iPhone 11 is powered by the new A13 Bionic which offers with faster graphics rendering.
Apple said its new iPhone 11 will come with two back cameras, including an ultra wide-angle lens and the A13 microchips. Price of iPhone 11s start at $699, down from last year’s new iPhone that started at $749.
Apple iPhone 11 Pro will have three cameras on the back – wide angle, telephoto and ultra-wide. It can create videos with all three back cameras and the front camera at the same time and starts at $999. The iPhone 11 Pro Max with a bigger screen starts at $1,099.
Rivals including Huawei Technologies and Samsung Electronics already sell phones with three cameras on the back.
Analysts expect Apple will sell around 200 million iPhones in the next year, in addition to other devices.
Apple announced that its Watch Series 5 will start at $399 for the GPS models, and $499 for the cellular models. Pre-orders for Apple Watch Series 5 begin today and the Watch Series 5 will be in stores starting September 20.
The price of the older watch Series 3 starts at $199. Apple said the seventh generation of the iPad will start at $329.
Services like the television content featuring the likes of Oprah Winfrey that will compete with Netflix and Walt Disney could take center stage.
While the iPhone still makes up more than half of Apple’s sales, Tuesday’s event may nudge it off center stage after a decade in the limelight, Reuters reported.
Apple boasted about its advantage over rivals such as Samsung Electronics, which makes handsets, or Alphabet’s Google, which provides the Android operating system for most of the world’s phones.
Apple touted controlling both the hardware and software, resulting in polished products that commanded premium prices and captured most of the smart phone industry’s profits.
The new strategy, which Apple hinted at an event in March where it gave some details about the streaming TV service, comes as iPhone sales have declined year-over-year for the past two fiscal quarters.
Apple also announced its video game service, Apple Arcade, will be a tab in the App Store and available starting Sept. 19 and cost $4.99 a month, with a one-month free trial.
“This is the first time we’ll get to see Apple’s strategy with all three parts of the business,” said Ben Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies.
With streaming content, Apple is entering a crowded field. Since Apple’s initial television event in March, rivals like Walt Disney have since announced a $6.99 per month service that will contain that firm’s iconic children’s content.
Apple will sell its own service – Apple TV+ – even as it already serves as a reseller of other channels like HBO and, analysts believe, takes a cut of sales. Bajarin said Apple’s challenge is to persuade consumers that its family of devices, from its set-top box to phones, are the best one-stop place to watch shows, despite the fact that Netflix has yet to come on board with the integrated viewing system.
