Khaleej Times

Apple may unveil TV service on March 25

- Alvin R. Cabral — alvin@khaleejtim­es.com

dubai — Apple was, as usual, mum on its latest media invite, but using the ‘It’s show time’ teaser again gave away a lot.

The iPhone maker officially confirmed a special media event on March 25 late on Monday, in which it is expected to unveil its longawaite­d TV and video service.

The event, which will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater at the tech giant’s Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, had been anticipate­d.

And this is not the first time Apple used that tagline: in 2006, the company used the same wordings in the lead-up to the unveiling of iTV, which would eventually be renamed and released as the Apple TV in 2007.

Services has blossomed into a critical component of Apple’s business; it has consistent­ly posted consecutiv­e quarters of record growth, becoming an anchor for the firm at a time the global smartphone market is experienci­ng an overall slowdown.

Apple’s would-be TV and video service — which has been in the works for quite a while — will directly tangle with Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video for supremacy in the market, which has enjoyed growth thanks to users hungry for content consumptio­n on any device, wherever they may be.

The service is most likely to be rolled out first in the US. Dallasbase­d research firm Parks Associates, in its recent OTT Video Market Report, said that Netflix currently tops the American streaming service industry with almost 60 million subscriber­s. Amazon Prime clocked in at second, followed by Hulu,

HBO Now and Starz. Apple may also use the event to reveal some new hardware, including a couple of longdelaye­d products, the second-generation AirPods headphones with wireless charging capabiliti­es and the AirPower wireless charging mat, plus, possibly, a new entry-level iPad to complement the higher-end models it unveiled late last year.

 ?? — AP ?? Apple used the same ‘It’s showtime’ tagline when it unveiled what would be the Apple TV in 2006.
— AP Apple used the same ‘It’s showtime’ tagline when it unveiled what would be the Apple TV in 2006.

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