In 2019, Apple meant business, introducing a whole host of products, software, and services to increase its market dominance and allow it to innovate in new and exciting ways.
Perhaps the biggest of the company’s announcements in 2019 was in services, introducing four major new divisions that take the company in a whole host of directions in today’s changing times.
Apple News+
Apple started the year with the launch of Apple News+, a premium news subscription service where consumers could access content from popular magazines, leading newspapers and digital publishers into a beautiful, convenient and curated experience within the Apple News app.
Vogue, National Geographic Magazine, People, ELLE, The Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times were some of the early adopters, but although the company did manage to convince more 200,000 people to sign up for a trial within the first 48 hours of launch, Apple has reportedly struggled to encourage those people to stick around.
Since, Apple News+ has launched in markets such as the United Kingdom and Australia, but it’s a similar story there; people don’t want to pay for news when they can get it for free.
Apple Card
Next came the Apple Card, one of the biggest eyebrow-raisers of the year. In a partnership with Goldman Sachs, Apple Card is designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life, and it’s built into the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone.
Alongside an attractive user interface and a stunning titanium Apple Card for shopping at locations where Apple Pay is not accepted yet, the service introduced Daily Cash, which gives back a percentage of every purchase as cash on customers’ Apple Cash card each day.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that the card was the company’s “most successful credit card launch ever,” though time will tell how successful the card will be as the dust settles.
Apple Arcade
Apple also announced Apple Arcade at its March Services Event, another subscription that features over 100 new and exclusive games for just $4.99 per month.
With more than a billion gaming customers on the App Store, Apple naturally wanted to tap into the changing market and increase its market dominance, ahead of Google’s entry into the sphere with Stadia, and reviews so far have been positive.
Whether it can persuade consumers to continue coughing up $5 per month for a few premium games remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting strategy nonetheless.
Apple TV+
Finally, Apple TV+.
Apple had been rumored to have been working on its own Netflix competitor for a number of years and following the announcement of the new streaming service, sunk more than $6 billion into creating original content to compete on a global scale.
Available for just $4.99 per month with a year’s free membership for anyone who buys an Apple device, it will take time for the new platform to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, as it won’t be able to build a bank of content on a similar scale for many years.
However, the initial reception and quality is impressive, and we’re looking forward to seeing what happens.
Hardware
Apple also launched a number of new products this year, taking its hardware to the next level.
Alongside the new iPhone 11 range, Apple lifted the lid on a premium version of its AirPods, the AirPods Pro, a stunning new MacBook Pro, and the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR.
On top, we saw major software releases for iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS, and the forking of iPadOS to deliver a new tablet experience.
What was your favorite Apple launch this year? Let us know on Twitter and check back soon for more news and rumors, as and when we get them.
