Disney CEO Bob Iger’s seat on Apple’s board of directors might be at risk as both companies pursue video streaming services.
Apple hasn’t asked Iger to step down yet, but a new report shines light on what could soon become a very conflicted relationship. Disney and Apple have enjoyed close ties ever since Disney bought Pixar from Steve Jobs. Now it looks like the two companies are about to become close rivals.
The first big Apple media event of 2019 has supposedly gotten an official date.
Apple reportedly scheduled a keynote at Steve Jobs Theater for the end of March, but don’t expect to see any major hardware announcements.
Apple is reportedly taking a hard line with publishers during its negotiations for a proposed news subscription service.
Aiming to become the “Netflix of news,” Apple’s as-yet-unannounced service would give customers unlimited access to articles from popular publishers for just $10 per month. However, news organizations are reportedly balking at Apple’s proposed revenue split, which sounds downright greedy.
Apple is back to being the world’s most valuable publicly traded company once again.
The company’s stock price has been rising steadily since Apple revealed its first earnings of 2019 last month. Worried investors ditched the stock at the beginning of the year due to slumping iPhone sales, but it just passed Amazon and Microsoft today, putting Apple back on top.
Apple shares have rebounded some from the company’s holiday season slump, but its $787.6 billion market cap has a way to go before it’s back at the $1 trillion level it hit last summer.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have a suggestion for turning things around, however. They think that Apple’s Services division could see Apple once again take its place in the exclusive trillionaires club.
Starting Friday, Apple Music subscribers can enjoy the service on domestic flights with American Airlines without purchasing Wi-Fi.
Complete access to the service and its more than 50 million songs will be available on flights equipped with Viasat satellite Wi-Fi. American Airlines is the first commercial airline to offer the service.
Tim Cook sounded confident about Apple’s future when he got on today’s Q1 2019 earnings call with investors this afternoon. Despite slumping iPhone sales and declining revenues, Cook told investors that his company is being managed for the long-haul instead of short-term gains.
Wall Street is already responding positively to Apple’s earnings report with shares trading up in after-hours trading. The company has 1.4 billion active Apple devices in the world, positioning Apple to continue raking in money as no other company can. However, today’s call revealed some new challenges Apple faces going forward.
Apple unveiled its earnings for Q1 2019 this afternoon and as expected, total revenue came in a lot lower than Apple originally predicted at the end of last year, with iPhone sales dropping 15%.
Thanks mostly to slumping sales in Greater China, Apple posted $84.3 billion in revenue, marking a drop from the $88.3 billion the company pulled in during the same quarter a year ago. Even though iPhone sales are struggling, Apple’s services are bringing in more money than expected, giving investors some good news.
When Apple unveils its earnings report for last year’s crucial holiday quarter, the entire world will be watching for signs of the company’s long-rumored impending doom.
Several factors will make Tuesday’s Q1 2019 earnings call Apple’s most important in years. Depending on how it goes, it could have an enormous impact on the company’s stock’s performance in 2019 and beyond.
Apple is reportedly planning to upgrade its TV app with support for subscription services. This will likely happen around mid-April 2019.
Don’t necessarily expect this to be the debut of Apple’s original TV efforts, however. Instead, this likely refers to making it easier to subscribe to service like HBO Now using the TV app, instead of having to subscribe through HBO’s app.
