Apple’s March 25 event: Here’s what to expect

Apple (APPL) is expected to unveil its much-anticipated video streaming and news subscription services during an event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters on Monday, March 25.

The charge into the video streaming market comes as iPhone sales have slowed and users put off upgrading their phones longer. Services are seen as the way forward for Apple, and the streaming initiative will play a major role in the company’s evolution.

The news service, meanwhile, will let users read unlimited articles from several publishers for a single monthly fee. That service, however, is facing pushback from major news organizations who object to Apple’s plans to split revenue.

The future will be streamed

According to Bloomberg, Apple’s new streaming service will act as a kind of one-stop-shop for movies and TV shows from major distributors including HBO, Showtime, and Starz. The company could also preview some of its own content, which it is working on alongside stars like Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell.

But Apple’s biggest competitors will feature a who’s who of major streaming companies including Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Hulu, and others. The streaming space is also about to get a lot more crowded with heavyweights like Disney and NBC preparing to launch their own streaming services, so Apple will have to work extra hard to ensure its offering stands out.

Apple, however, has an ace up its sleeve. The company can more or less flip a switch and instantly install the app for its new service on every iOS device and Apple TV on the market. Competitors, meanwhile, need to get users to install their apps on their own.

Reports on when the service will launch vary, with Variety saying it might not debut until some time later this summer or fall, and other rumors pointing to April.

Investors are pegging this streaming service as a make or break moment for Apple’s future. With iPhone sales disappointing in the previous quarter and services revenue on the rise, the streaming service could play a pivotal part in the company’s transformation.

The Netflix logo is shown in this illustration photograph in Encinitas, California October 14, 2014. Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> shares were down 3.1 percent at $435.28 after the announcement. The streaming video company will announced its quarterly results later on October 15. Picture taken October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA BUSINESS LOGO)

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Netflix will be Apple's biggest competitor right out of the gate. (Image: Entertainment Media Business Logo)

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“The investment community is generally cautious of Apple’s ability to differentiate its new streaming video service given market leadership by existing players,” Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty and Erik Woodring wrote in a March 21 research note.

“Importantly, Apple Music launched to much skepticism yet contributed 1.5 points of annual services growth in its launch year, and 5 points the first full year post launch,” they added.

“Going forward, services and wearables drive all of the growth in our model, making the update of new Apple services important to stock performance over the next year.”

Needham recently upgraded Apple’s stock rating from buy to a strong buy, citing the company’s ecosystem, results of Needham’s own survey, and the pending announcement of the streaming video service.

Apple’s news service

Apple’s second big announcement at its March 25 event is reported to be a new news service that will give subscribers unlimited access to articles from participating publishers for a single monthly fee.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the service will be an extension of the existing Apple News app, and should cost about $10 per month. Apple, however, has reportedly received some significant pushback from publishers because of the tech company’s proposed revenue split for the service.

The Journal says that Apple is seeking to split fees 50/50 between itself and publishers. That could be especially problematic for publishers at a time when newsrooms across the country are making drastic cuts, leaving skeleton crews to research, write, edit and publish stories.

Publishers also reportedly took issue with the fact that Apple won’t be sharing credit card information or email addresses, something The Journal says organizations would need to build out their customer lists.

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In an interview with Reuters, New York Times (NYT) CEO Mark Thomas warned publishers about working with Apple on the new initiative, explaining how they could end up losing control of their own product. What’s more, a $10 per month subscription to Apple’s news service would undercut the monthly fees charged by major publishers, meaning they’d earn less money per subscriber right off the bat. Cut that reduced revenue in half, and you’re looking at potentially huge losses for media organizations.

Of course, none of this is confirmed until Apple CEO Tim Cook takes the stage on Monday to announce the company’s new products. So until then, we’ll just have to wait and guess as to what the tech giant has in store.

You can follow Yahoo Finance all day on March 25 for all of the latest news from the big show. Stay tuned.

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Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]; follow him on Twitter at@DanielHowley. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, andLinkedIn.finance.yahoo.com/

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