Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event on Tuesday unveiled many surprises, including a bunch of new products, including Apple TV 4K, AirTags, iMac and the new iPad Pro. While all of these were on the hardware side, we also wanna talk about the software side as well. Big changes were announced to Apple Podcasts and Apple Card, which we will explain in this piece.
Apple Podcasts:
The company announced Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a new paid subscription within Podcasts, to be available in over 170 countries and regions starting May 2021.The pricing for the new subscription service is yet to be announced.
Listeners will be able to subscribe to the content for benefits like no ads, and early and exclusive access to additional content. They can also enjoy premium subscriptions from creators like Tenderfoot TV, Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, and QCODE, to leading media and entertainment brands, including NPR, the Los Angeles Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment, and many more.
Apple also announced a redesigned Podcasts app, which includes channels to help people discover new content. The channels include artwork, titles and descriptions unique to Apple Podcasts, and some might promote free content while others are paid. The redesign also includes a “Smart Play” button to allow listeners to automatically start new shows. Listeners can also save individual episodes. The redesigned Apple Podcasts app will be available for people who use iOS 14.5.
Eddy Cue, senior VP of Internet Software and Services, Apple, said, “Fifteen years ago, Apple took podcasts mainstream, offering creators a premier, open platform to inform, entertain, and inspire hundreds of millions of listeners around the world. Today, Apple Podcasts is the best place for listeners to discover and enjoy millions of great shows, and we are proud to lead the next chapter of podcasting with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. We’re excited to introduce this powerful new platform to creators around the world, and we can’t wait to hear what they make with it.”
The podcast subscription option “enables you to unlock new content as well as additional benefits like ad-free listening, early access and much more — so now you can help your favourite podcasters build their business and fuel their creativity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
Let us move on to see how the changes will benefit the creators. Creators can now decide the price of their shows – they will have the option to offer a freemium model (where you have to subscribe to get additional features like ad-free shows and early access to new content), or setting a price for all of their content. They can also create channels to curate their shows. Additionally, creators can access the Apple Podcasts Connect dashboard, which includes new features like the ability to edit metadata, schedule and manage show availability, organize shows into channels, manage multiple users and roles, and learn how listeners are engaging with their shows through new performance metrics and visualization tools. Creators can also enroll in the all-new Apple Podcasters Programme to gain access to tools they need to build premium subscriptions.
Apple Card:
That is not all, folks. The “Spring Loaded” event also announced a new feature – Apple Card Family, which will now allow you to share your Apple Card and build joint credit with up to five people in your Apple Family Sharing Group, as long as they are 13 years or older. Two people, both who are 18 years or older, can co-own the Apple Card and build credit history together.
“We designed Apple Card Family because we saw an opportunity to reinvent how spouses, partners, and the people you trust most share credit cards and build credit together. There’s been a lack of transparency and consumer understanding in the way credit scores are calculated when there are two users of the same credit card, since the primary account holder receives the benefit of building a strong credit history while the other does not,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay. “Apple Card Family lets people build their credit history together equally.”
Designed to help the Family Sharing group achieve a healthier financial life by making it easy to track spending, all on iPhone and with a single monthly bill, Apple Card Family also helps teach people of spending independently and responsibly while giving co-owners transparency and features that provide insight into purchases and control over their purchase limit. Co-owners and participants will each receive Daily Cash for purchases made on their Apple Card.
