Apple event - As it happened: Steven Spielberg among celebrities launching TV streaming, new credit card and magazine subscription services

Apple unveils Apple News+

Apple has launched a whole host of new services, intended to make more money from the people who have already bought its products.

In what was hailed as one of the most significant Apple events in years, the company did not reveal new products or software but instead a range of premium services. Together, they represent new ways to pay for news subscriptions, TV and games – as well as a new way to pay for anything, with a brand new titanium credit card.

The highlight of the new announcements was Apple TV+, a new streaming service built to compete with offerings like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. During the event, it invited many of the world's biggest stars and directors on stage to talk about the new shows, on which Apple is thought to have spent billions of dollars.

But it said it would bring a similar, paid-for and ad-free subscription service, for news and for games. All will allow people to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to that content.

Apple tried to link the various announcements together through references to its corporate principles: stressing a focus on privacy, quality, and the ways that the various products are built to work with the company's hardware and software.

But the different announcements were also linked together in the fact that few details were announced about any of them. Apple only revealed the cost and release date of one of the new products, and gave little information about how many of them will work.

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Key Points

• Apple announces subscribtion news and magazine service called Apple News+
• A new titanium credit card called Apple Card aims to transform Apple Pay

[25 March 2019 18:43 · anthony.cuthbertson]

"We want to be heard, but we also need to listen," she says. "That's why I'm joining forces with Apple... my intention is to illuminate consciousness."

[25 March 2019 18:46 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Oprah is going to do what she does best: A book club.

But it's not just any book club. She's planning on "the biggest, most vibrant, most stimulating book club on the planet."

[25 March 2019 18:46 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Tim Cook joins Oprah on stage, theatrically wiping a tear from his eyes.

[25 March 2019 18:48 · anthony.cuthbertson]

After nearly two hours, it looks like he's here to wrap things up.

[25 March 2019 18:49 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Apple employees are asked to stand for a round of applause. The crowd clap, but definitely not as enthusiastically as they did for Oprah.

[25 March 2019 18:58 · anthony.cuthbertson]

And that's it. "Thank you and good bye," Cook says.

Thanks for joining us and stay tuned for plenty more analysis and post-event coverage from us.

[25 March 2019 19:45 · anthony.cuthbertson]

Here's a full wrap up of today's event in California: