During Apple‘s 2019 Event on Tuesday, the company officially announced its a release date and price point for its streaming service, Apple TV Plus. The service will launch Friday, November 1 at $4.99 per month. That price sits TV Plus directly below two of its major competitors — Netflix and Disney.
Netflix’s most popular plan is currently available for $12.99 a month, while Disney+ will launch just over a week after Apple TV+ on Nov. 12 for $6.99 a month. Disney will also offer its own bundle with ad-supported Hulu and sports streaming service, ESPN+, for $12.99 a month.
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Apple is launching its service with just a few new series, including Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston’s The Morning Show and Hailee Steinfeld’s drama series about poet Emily Dickinson, Dickinson. The obvious question is how will Apple will be able to compete with the thousands of TV episodes and movies Netflix currently carries, plus Disney’s massive library of adored titles to watch while new shows continue to sprinkle out.
The company also announced that customers who purchase any iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod Touch or Mac can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. Through Family Sharing, up to six family members can share one Apple TV+ subscription.
Apple appears to be committed to producing original content for TV+ after upping its content budget from $1 billion to more than $6 billion, according to Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly spending approximately $15 million an episode on some of its biggest shows, including The Morning Show and the Jason Momoa-led sci-fi series, See.
The company plans to roll out new shows over the next several months, and will release new episodes on a weekly basis instead of in one large batch like Netflix does. That also happens to be the same method Disney will use for Disney+ series, while Hulu and Amazon Prime continue to reflect the same operation as well.
during Tuesday’s event in Cupertino, California, Apple is expected to unveil three new generations of iPhones, replacing the iPhoneXS, XS Max and XR with the rumored iPhone 11, 11 Max/11 Pro and 11R. The new iPhones will likely have improved cameras, faster processors and iOS 13.
Fans can also expect to see an Apple Watch update. However, whether it’s a brand new Apple Watch 5 or a more minor Apple Watch upgrade remains to be seen.
Apple sent invites to the big event a few weeks ago to some members of the media. The invitation shows the Apple logo made up of five different bright colors that date back to the old six-color logo Apple used years ago — leading analysts to speculate that the unreleased iPhone 11 will be a disappointment and not attract the buyers Apple is hoping for.
In fact, CNET reported that “if the rumors hold true, Apple will unveil phones with essentially the same design for a third year in a row.” The outlet reported that the new iPhones won’t likely have major changes in design or function in a time when all of Apple’s competitors have made big tweaks to their own designs (think Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10’s nearly all-screen design or OnePlus 7 Pro’s pop-up camera). Plus, Apple likely won’t include features that are widely thought to be the future of mobile tech: 5G and foldable displays.
