Apple looks to begin a fresh reinvention on Monday as it rolls out Hollywood stars for its new streaming television service, part of a broad shift of direction for the California technology giant.
Having seen a pullback in the once-sizzling smartphone market, Apple will seek to diversify by getting deeper into the television business, and with the likely launch of a subscription news service. The iPhone maker, which has officially been mum on its plans, was expected to bring in Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and "Star Wars" director J.J. Abrams to a launch event at its Silicon Valley headquarters. "It seems fairly obvious they are launching a new video service," said Techsponential technology market analyst Avi Greengart.
Big questions to be answered include how compelling content will be; how much the service will cost, and what makes it unique in an increasingly crowded streaming television market, according to the analyst.
"If the content is compelling enough, people will subscribe," Greengart said.
"This is not new, but it is hard to do well." The event comes with Apple under pressure to diversify its revenues amid sluggish growth in smartphones, which have delivered the bulk of Apple's profits for the past decade. While iPhone sales remain enviable, growth has stalled. Meanwhile, money Apple takes in from selling services or digital content has climbed. The Cupertino-based company recently stopped disclosing iPhone sales numbers with quarterly earnings releases and has taken to stressing the money-making potential of selling services, apps, music, movies and more to the millions of people using its devices.