Yesterday Apple announced a special event for March 25 (26 here in Australia) with the tagline ‘It’s Show Time’.
With such a vague announcement, what exactly is Apple planning? This is what we’re expecting.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/02/apples-2019-iphone-11-macbook-pro-airpower-products/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Apple-NYC-410×231.jpg” title=”Apple’s 2019 Products Have Been Revealed” excerpt=”Apple analyst Ming-Chi Ku released a report overnight that detailed all of the new Apple products that we can expect in 2019. And boy is there some big news in there, including a massive new MacBook Pro, the return of the iPod Touch and a 6K monitor.”]
Streaming Service
The biggest clues to what this event is all about is the “show time” tagline and the soft spotlight that’s illuminating the Apple logo.
Most bets are on Apple finally announcing its long-planned streaming subscription service, which will have its own original TV series and movies. It will allegedly sit around the $US10 a month mark.
There is also talk of an upgrade to the Apple TV app to accompany this, which will allow third-party subscription signup from the app itself.
Apple News Premium
Compared to say, Apple Music, not a lot has been done with Apple News since it launched in 2015. It’s only been rolled out in a few countries (including Australia) and even Canada didn’t get a look in until January this year.
But between new editorial hires, some software updates and the acquisition of Texture (a digital magazine subscription service) in 2018 – we’re likely to see a refresh here.
The expectation is the launch of a paid Apple News service which will offer a wide selection magazines and newspapers for a $US9.99 a month fee. That’s the same ‘individual’ price as Apple Music in the United States, so here in Australia we will probably be looking at a similar $11.99 conversion.
Hardware?
Sadly it doesn’t seem like hardware will be the primary focus of this event despite all the product predictions for 2019.. That being said, the AirPower Charging Pad, redesigned iPod Touch and update iPads have been rumoured for a March release – so we may just see them.
Considering that that this is the first time that the Steve Jobs Theatre is being used for an non-iPhone announcement, one would think that there’s gotta be at least one exciting new product to show off.
Fingers crossed.
Apple’s March event will be live streaming here on March 26 at 4am AEDT. Ouch.
We’ll keep you updated with and leaks or rumours in the meantime.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/03/tim-cook-twitter-troll-tim-apple/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/timcook-410×231.jpg” title=”Tim Cook: Troll” excerpt=”Yesterday Donald Trump managed to bugger up the name of one of the most famous CEOs in the world. During an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting he referred to Apple’s Tim Cook as ‘Tim Apple’ and it was excellent. Apparently Cook found it funny, too.”]