When Apple Inc. boss Tim Cook takes the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater in Silicon Valley on Monday, he will usher in a new era for the world’s largest technology company.
“This is a pivotal shift for Apple and in our opinion the biggest strategic move since the iPhone was unveiled in 2007,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “There is massive pressure on Cook and Apple to deliver on services, with streaming content a potential linchpin of growth.” The venue itself indicates the importance of the event to Apple. The company has only used the Steve Jobs Theater at its new headquarters twice since it opened two years ago. The first time, Apple debuted the iPhone X. The second time, it launched the iPhone XS and latest Apple Watch. To ensure all attention will be on services, Apple took the rare step of announcing several new hardware products on its website last week, including upgraded AirPods, iPads, and iMacs.
Dan Ives Still, there’s a base of at least 1.4 billion active Apple devices, giving the company an advantage over rivals such as Netflix. The Apple video service will be tied to a TV app that is already pre-installed on Apple devices, putting the company’s content at the fingertips of hundreds of millions of potential viewers.
Apple is also working on a premium games subscription for its App Store and discussing it with potential partners, according to people with knowledge of the plans. This service won’t take on new cloud-based streaming offerings like Google Stadia. Instead, it will focus on iPhones and iPads and bundle together paid games from different developers that consumers can access for a monthly fee. Cheddar previously reported that Apple was working on a gaming-related subscription service.