Apple's reinvention as a services company to start for real when CEO Tim Cook takes the stage on Monday
- Apple’s three big hardware markets – smartphones, personal computers and tablets – are stagnating
- Apple may even announce a monthly video games subscription
When Apple boss Tim Cook takes the stage at the Steve Jobs Theatre in Silicon Valley on Monday, he will usher in a new era for the world’s largest technology company.
The chief executive is expected to unveil streaming video and news subscriptions, key parts of Apple’s push to transform itself into a leading digital services provider. The company may even discuss a monthly video games subscription. Likely absent from the event: Any new versions of the gadgets that have helped Apple generate hundreds of billions of dollars in profit since 1976.
It is a particular challenge for Cook, who took over after Jobs died in 2011. The Apple chief executive is an expert in hardware supply chains who spent years wrangling eager component manufacturers in Asia to assemble the company’s blockbuster iPhone. Apple’s newer partners – Hollywood studios, movie stars, newspapers and magazine publishers – are more wary of working with tech giants, or have already teamed up with rivals like Netflix and Amazon.com.
“This is a pivotal shift for Apple and in our opinion the biggest strategic move since the iPhone was unveiled in 2007,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “There is massive pressure on Cook and Apple to deliver on services, with streaming content a potential linchpin of growth.”
Apple’s three big hardware markets – smartphones, personal computers and tablets – are stagnating. To keep growing, the company has been trying to sell its existing device owners services, such as Apple Music subscriptions, iCloud storage and AppleCare warranties.
