Apple's March 25 event now official

Apple has announced a new event scheduled for March 25th. It is expected to announce its long-awaited Apple News subscription service. The firm is also reportedly launching its own tv and movie streaming service, and might be offering a comprehensive package that rolls all three into one.

The firm has managed to keep information about this service under wraps, and most analysts don’t really know exactly what to expect.

“We don’t have any information. We don’t know the price point or the business model,” Day Rayburn, a streaming media analyst with Frost & Sullivan told Wired Magazine. “Now we’re going to finally figure out what the hell Apple’s doing.”

Apple’s shift to services comes at a time when iPhone hardware sales are declining because –well everyone in the market for an iPhone has an iPhone. If they don’t, they probably have an Android and don’t really want to switch. Point is, the market for iPhones isn’t as big as Tim Cook would ideally like. The firm is also investing in making its phones longer lasting, with updates that improve performance on older phones. Apple notes that keeping your phone longer is good for the planet as well — another of its concerns (the potential end of life as we know it is arguably pretty bad for business).

Services are the next big thing. You buy a device once, and you pay for everything about it. Apple’s got users paying for music and photo services. With Netflix and Amazon Prime already having proven the value of streaming video subscriptions, the firm is poised to swoop in on yet another market.

Via: The Verge.