Monday, March 25, 2019

Apple Hopes New Services Make-Up For Sputtering Sales

Apple Inc. unveiled a new credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a videogame subscription service and a news-subscription app, all part of a suite of services the tech giant is announcing Monday as it seeks fresh revenue to make up for sputtering sales in its core iPhone business.

The Wall Street Journal reports the announcements came at an event where the iPhone maker also is expected to announce a new video-subscription offering with its first original TV shows. The event’s focus on services and software marked a departure for Apple, which typically uses such events to showcase new gadgets. As momentum has stalled in the company’s iPhone business, Chief Executive Tim Cook is ramping up its services in an effort to generate revenue growth.

The news app, called Apple News Plus, is a premium version of the existing, free Apple News app that will be priced at $9.99 a month. It provides access to articles from more than 300 magazines including Vogue, GQ and Sports Illustrated, as well as newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Apple’s Ann Thai, senior product marketing manager of the App Store, speaks during the launch of Arcade, the tech company’s new gaming service, branding as Arcade.

The unveiling of the Apple Card marks a major expansion of the company’s foray into financial services, begun with Apple Pay. Customers will be able to sign up for the Apple Card on their iPhones and begin using it for purchases within days, the company said. It will offers 2% cash back on purchases and uses machine-learning on Apple’s devices to organize people’s spending behavior into weekly and monthly summaries. Customers can receive a physical, titanium version of the card to use in locations where Apple Pay isn’t yet accepted.

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