A report from BuzzFeed claims Apple will hold its first event of the year, focusing on Apple News, on March 25. The event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus.
Apple is preparing to unveil its much-rumored news service, which will bring paid subscriptions to their Apple News service and apps. The report says an unveiling of a new iPad mini or next-generation AirPods at the event is “unlikely.”
Sources described the event as subscription services focused, but declined to say anything about Apple’s standalone video streaming service which is also rumored to debut in 2019. Earlier this year, The Information reported that Apple had told studios and networks to prepared for an April launch.
Rumors suggest Apple is planning to offer a $9.99 per month subscription option for Apple news that will provide unlimited access to paywalled content on news sites like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Apple is said to still be in the negotiation stages with many of the news sites, with the major snag amounting to a financial one, as Apple is requesting a 50/50 split on revenues. The news sites are reported to be reluctant to agree to Apple’s other terms, which would see the Cupertino firm control the users’ email and credit card information.
The news subscription service could also offer access to magazines, as Apple has long been rumored to be working on a magazine subscription service using the technology acquired in their Texture acquisition from last year.
A March Apple event isn’t an unreasonable prediction, as the company has held events in that month back in 2015, 2016, and as recently as 2018. A rather sketchy rumor we reported about earlier today claimed a March event would be held for the purpose of kicking-off pre-orders for new AirPods, the AirPower charging mat, a new low-cost iPad, and fifth-generation iPad.