At a Special Event hosted on 25 March 2019, Apple unveiled a couple of new services which will bring this tech giant in some new industries.
Arcade
With its own gaming platform, called Arcade, Apple is entering a very crowded gaming market where it will be competing with the likes of Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Steam and another newcomer: Google (Stadia).
Although some of the competitors have strong roots in this business, the two newbies have an important edge - they control the new gaming battlefield: mobile.
With iOS and Android running on billions of devices, Apple and Google can easily deploy their gaming platforms and significantly change the gaming industry.
At least in theory, of course. Let's wait and see how it unfolds in reality.
News+
Apple News+ will allow you to access more than 300 newspapers and magazines for $9.99 per month. Apple is basically trying to copy/paste the Apple Music subscription business model into newspapers and magazines.
The move should worry Medium, which hosts articles from many newspapers and magazines (New York Times, The Atlantic etc.) and offers subscription-based pricing to its users.
It's hard to say how successful this venture will be, but it could bring a more stable revenue stream into the industry which is shrinking year-by-year.
TV+
TV+ is the name of Apple's new video streaming service which will compete with Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and the likes.
It's a fast growing new industry but already quite crowded with an absolute giant waiting right at the door: Disney. The upcoming years will bring a big battle which most of the streaming services will probably not survive.
Apple holds a strong card with its loyal user base, but this will not be enough if they will lack quality content. It will be interesting to watch the space in the next couple of years and see who emerges as the winner. My money is on Disney, but in the end, I think it will be a duopoly like in so many other industries. We could very well see Apple acquiring Netflix a few years from now to secure the No. 2 spot.
Card
Apple product and service names have almost always been very generic, and Card is no different. What is the Card? It's Apple's very own credit card.
I know it doesn't sound revolutionary and sexy, but modern (mobile) e-banking is on the rise and it might, in fact, lead to a revolution in this centuries-old business.
Modern banking startups, such as N26 and Revolut (and many more others), should make the old banking industry worried about losing the millennial generation and the ones that follow.
With the Card, Apple didn't go into the banking business just yet, but it is definitely laying the right foundation to do so in the future if it wants.
Sexy or not, financial services are a huge business (money-wise) and could propel Apple towards the second trillion dollar valuation.
Although many people remarked that the 25 March Special Event was boring, it could turn out to be one of the most significant Apple events ever. It shows us the new era of Apple, moving from devices to services. And this could very well bring Apple to the second trillion mark in its market cap.