Apple differentiating itself from other tech tycoons

On Monday, Apple hosted an event in its famous Steve Jobs Theatre, the slogan given to the event was "It's Show Time". There was no any upgrade to its hardware (Apple released several new devices before the event), it seemed that Apple wanted audience to focus on its upcoming services. Apple released Apple News+, Apple Card, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade in addition to its service updates. We can see the new upcoming services cover finance as well as entertainment. 

Apple does not only open its platforms for a wide range of developers and content creators, but also tries to create its own content. We should not be surprised about this, Apple has shown its ambition of being a content creator for a long period of time, and its Radio channel under its Apple Music was its first big move (at least according to my memory).

Apple has tried to launch its own services which have already existed in its App Store. Some people may still remember that iPhone used to have Google Map and YouTube by default; however, due to the complicated relationship between Google and Apple, Apple launched its own Map (this could also be its first step of content creation). What surprised me is Apple's ambition in finance. Although Apple Pay has existed for a significant period already, providing credit card service is something different.

Apple has set a bar for all its services, which is privacy and security. This has been cheered by many of Apple's customers and this is also the image that Apple has always been building. In terms of convenience, Apple may have to make some compromise. Google has a wide range of users, but because most of its products are free, it has to seek profits from third parties, which has been criticized by many about exploiting users' private information; Facebook has also been attacked for similar reasons. Apple wants to differentiate itself from these two companies; therefore, according to Apple's claims, the user information from all its services will not be sold to third parties and the personalized content provision is done on devices rather than cloud. The success of Apple will then depend on how much users value their own privacy. It is difficult to make a judgment because some people say that they care about their privacy but often give up their privacy for cheaper or free services.