Next month is likely to be big for Apple. It likes to launch products in the Spring as well as the Fall and it looks like this year will follow that trend. So what will a March event likely reveal? Well, the latest rumor suggests it may not be the debut of the much-anticipated Apple AirPods 2, and I'm sorry to break that news to you. It seems there may be some AirPods action, just not as much as we'd all like. As you can read here, cool new features are still coming soon and these are pretty much definite.
What seems near-certain, though, is that a big event is coming which will focus on a new Apple News subscription service and perhaps a TV subscription service to take on Netflix, too.
But don’t believe everything you may have heard: I think the rumors that the event will have no hardware announced is wrong: I believe the next iPad will be revealed, too.
My fellow Forbes contributor Anthony Karcz has a typically smart take on what March 25, which is worth checking out, too.
Anyway, let’s take stock of what is expected.
Apple News is about to get a big makeover with a subscription service similar to Apple Music likely.
A couple of iPads, including an iPad mini, are on their way. There’s likely a new iPod coming, too. And, of course, it really must be time for the delayed AirPower wireless charging pad, not to mention AirPods 2, or at least an updated case for the current AirPods.
These are the rumors and as you can see, there’s a lot of them. So, when will they all come true? Here’s everything you need to know.
Apple is a creature of habit
Firstly, Apple likes a Spring event. It launched the iPhone SE on March 21, 2016. There was no event in 2017 but last year, on March 27, the current iPad was revealed at a special education-focused event in Chicago.
On that basis, it’s possible, given the weight of rumors, that 2019 will be a year when Apple will want to stick to its habitual ways.
So, when will it be?
There is an increasing consensus suggesting Monday, March 25 or Tuesday, March 26. My belief is it will be the Monday.
This is also the suggestion in a report by Buzzfeed claiming that it has been told that March 25 is it and that the event will be held in the Steve Jobs Theater at the Apple Park campus.
How big is big?
When it comes to Apple events, every event is big. And the fact that this one is going to happen, it looks like, at the Steve Jobs Theater, is telling. This is Apple’s most significant press event space.
What will be announced?
This will be an event focused on services, specifically the rumored Apple News subscription service that has been in the works since Apple bought digital magazine service Texture back in March last year.
Texture was nicknamed the Netflix of Magazines because it collated digital magazines in a $9.99-a-month subscription plan that gave access to titles like the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, National Geographic and Vogue. Not to mention 200 other publications.
It all sounds likely, given Apple’s greater emphasis on services.
There is a caveat that the date might change if Apple continues to find, as has been reported, that publishers are pushing back against the terms they are being offered.
Reports suggest Apple wants to keep around half the income, sharing the rest amongst publishers according to how many people read them.
Texture’s chief executive John Loughlin has said that his service was an “antidote to the web” where news is routinely free. He said this week, “We could not imagine a better home or future for the service”.
Will the date change?
No matter how many rumors you hear, nothing is set until it’s actually announced by Apple. That ready-when-it’s-ready attitude stretches to announcements as well as products so anything can change.
That said, I think March 25 is as close to set in stone as anything ever is.
Will Apple News be all that’s announced?
That’s the rumor, though I’m not convinced. After all, important though Apple Music is, its announcement was far from the only item on the agenda at the WWDC keynote in June 2015.
How about the Apple TV subscription service?
That would fit with the emphasis on subscription services, but although we have heard a lot about shows that have been commissioned and indeed have started to be made, for me, it feels a bit too soon for a full reveal, maybe it'll be more of a sneak peek.
My guess is that the service itself won’t launch until summer or fall this year at the earliest.
On the other hand, a preview of some of the highest-profile shows that are lined up would be pretty cool. Perhaps it will be a part of Tim Cook's introduction or a crowd-pleaser for the end of the keynote.
In other words, the new TV subscription service is likely to make some sort of an appearance, but don't expect the same level of granular detail (such as subscription price, release date and so on ) to be revealed just yet.
So, what else?
I think, at the very least, there will be the announcement of the public release of iOS 12.2, the latest update to the software for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
Plus: the onsale date for Apple AirPower, the long-awaited wireless charging mat, and the wireless-chargeable case for Apple AirPods. I also still believe it’s possible that an update to the chip that powers AirPods will be revealed, not least because that’s been hinted at in the public beta for iOS 12.2 where a set-up page for using Siri on AirPods hands-free is hiding just out of view.
That beta also revealed images which looked very strongly hinted that an Apple News subscription service was about to be announced.
Incidentally, there have been other reports that AirPods 2 will be here soon. So, really, who knows?
How about some brand-new, never-before-revealed hardware?
Oh, you mean the new iPads, don’t you?
Well, the jury is out. Sources say the iPad mini 5 will come later and that the event will be focused just on subscription services. Buzzfeed carefully makes no mention of the 2019 iPad.
That may be right about the mini, but I’m going to stick my neck out here: I believe the 2019 iPad will be there.
It’ll be a year almost to the day since the last entry-level iPad was revealed and, more importantly, it fits very nicely with an emphasis on reading magazines on a tablet, don’t you think?
Not to mention a great way to watch the output from the Apple TV subscription service - it all makes sense, I'd say.
Personally, I think the iPad mini 5 is also possible. It’s unlikely it would get a whole event to itself, so the next major date that’s scheduled would be this year’s WWDC in early June. Usually, there’s so much emphasis on software that hardware makes little or no appearance.
Anything else we can be sure of?
Yes, one thing.
The event will start at 10AM local time. Apple’s very habitual about that if nothing else.
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