Apple Marketing Event

Apple officially announced that it would be holding an event on March 25^th, 2019 for the purpose of revealing its long-awaited television streaming and Apple News subscription services at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Cupertino. These rumors began last month, and in Apple’s usual fashion, the invitation doesn’t have much to go by other than the fact that we should save the date. The event will reportedly focus on services, but Apple enthusiasts hope to see the announcement of revamped Air Pods, or the entry of a new generation iPad or even the long-delayed Air Power wireless charging pad.

An animated countdown GIF has been going around with the tagline ‘Its show time’- a tag used in a September 2006 event when it announced that it would start offering movies on iTunes as well as the first reveal of Apple TV which at the time was referred to as iTV. Just as this launch saw Apple’s media offerings for its devices expand, the March 25^th event also carries this possibility. Along with this TV service launch, Apple is expected to give us a look into its new Apple News subscription service. This service will offer a Netflix-style bundle for everything from magazines to subscription newspapers all in one easy to access location. The Wall Street Journal had reported some trouble with negotiations with some companies due to its demanding at least 50% of revenue from the service. The subscription service is said to offer paid access to content from large bodies like the New York Times, the Washington Post and so on. In fact, many believe the service could be marketed alongside Apple Music- with one subscription you have subscribed to all. Apple uses these events as a marketing strategy to create hype for new product launches and old upgrades. In the past, spring events have been used to make significant announcements which is why everyone is so excited for the March 25^th event.

In spring of 2015, the marketing event held by Apple saw an announcement on the 12-inch MacBook and pricing and launch dates for the Apple Watch original which was aptly named Spring Forward. The next year, they released the iPad Pro 9.7, iOS 9.3 and the iPhone SE in a similar marketing event named the ‘Let us Loop you in’ event. Spring 2017 was the exception- instead of another anticipated event, the company quietly shut down its online store and sent out a press statement announcing the launch of the red iPhone 7 and the iPad 2017. The lack of marketing for this event was a setback for the sales of these products proved the importance of taking care of one’s customer base. It was a major disappointment for Apple followers and saw the company launch a larger event the following year. In 2018, Apple changed tact and used their marketing event as an education-focused even at a school in Chicago. They announced a new iPad which can support Apple Pencil, as well as updates to Pages, GarageBand and Numbers and Keynote. They also discussed what these product offerings could do for both students and teachers. This event was dubbed ‘Let’s take a field trip’. For the 2019 spring event, we can expect the Apple streaming video service, which could take on Netflix to be launched. We can also expect a new Mini Apple TV which should be a cheaper way to access this new TV streaming service. However, it is speculated that Apple has joined with different TV providers to enable AirPlay 2 compatibility on their televisions to provide even cheaper access to users. Another product rumored to be launched at this event will be the new HomePod and HomePod Mini- a cheaper and smaller smart speaker. Other potential products will be AirPods 2, Over-ear headphones, AirPower (the wireless charger that was set to launch in 2018), iPhone SE 2, and updates for almost all its other products.

There will be other marketing events set in the year- specifically in June, September and October. While there are usually exceptions, most of Apple’s big announcements tend to happen at these four dates. There were a lot of untouched, unmarketed products in 2018 which are all expected to be launched this year, including some long-awaited updates. For this first event of 2019 therefore, the anticipation from Apple fans is palpable.