Recapping the Apple most highlights services in 2020, including most download apps, and Apple services like Apple News, Apple Music, Podcast, movies, TV shows. Talking about TV shows “Ted Lasso”, a comedy sports show win the heart of Apple TV+ viewers with his unremitting positive attitude. Also, apps like ShareTheMeal, FaceTime, and Wakeout! apps inspired people to give back, and stay in touch with friends or beloved ones and take care of themselves.
There are Apple Music fans searching for the “Dance Monkey” lyrics while watching their favorite artists Livestream from their homes, and podcasts like “SmartLess” and NPR’s “Code Switch” to binge. Whereas the Apple Arcade games like “Sneak Sasquatch” to play, and Apple’s newly launches Apple Fitness+ fitness and workout service waiting to be discovered.
“Now more than ever before, customers around the world have found inspiration and value in the breadth and quality of Apple’s services, which have impacted their lives in big and small ways every day,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “We’re incredibly optimistic about where we’re headed, and we believe that the opportunities for developers and the creative community are endless, as are the positive and meaningful benefits to our customers,” he added.
Take a look at Apple highlights from 2020
App Store
Zoom and Disney+ are among the most downloaded apps in 2020, inspiring friends, family, colleagues, and classmates to remain together and always connected. Although developers have found a new way to connect people, assist them, and work from home, stay fit and fine, and provide much-needed entertainment.
As a result of their efforts, since the App Store launched in 2008, developers selling digital products and services, which is just a small fraction of the total trade that the App Store promotes, have now gained more than $200 billion, the report suggests.
Games became more popular than ever, with breakthrough titles like “Among Us” and long-time classics such as “Roblox” alike bringing people together. Developers of all sizes reached new global markets, such as Shanghai-based miHoYo, which set a new record for the most profitable launch week ever on the App Store with its runaway hit “Genshin Impact.”
The trend increased over the holiday season, with customers of the App Store spending $1.8 billion over the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve on digital products and services, driven mostly by spending on games. By setting a new one-day spending record of over $540 million on New Year’s Day, customers ushered in 2021.
Apple Music
Apple Music had a successful year as people spent more time discovering and engaging with music around the world. With features like Listen Now, an all-new quest, personal radio stations, and Autoplay, the service has launched the largest product update ever. About 90 percent of iOS 14 listeners have used these latest features, and since 2020, interaction with the industry-leading lyrics feature of Apple Music has doubled.
More than 70 million songs are sold by Apple Music, all selected by world-class experts and tastemakers, thousands of playlists curated, and more than 25,000 unique radio episodes and other original material.
New Apple Music radio stations, including Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, combined with Apple Music 1 [Read more details], offered tens of millions of listeners a vibrant, global radio experience with all-new, original shows from the company’s most beloved artists and well-respected hosts.
Hosts of Apple Music connected to the world’s greatest superstars using FaceTime interviews and group chats live from their homes and offering their fans a series of bespoke playlists from the artists.
In addition to live-streamed performances by Verzuz or the Apple Music Award winners, [Read more details] Megan Thee Stallion, Roddy Ricch, and Lil Baby, global exclusives and in-depth interviews with artists such as Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift created significant, cultural-moving moments and helped artists and fans stay connected.
Apple TV
The Apple TV app was launched in 2020 on select LG, Sony, and VIZIO smart TVs, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles, adding to its wide scope that already includes Apple ecosystem, Samsung smart TVs, Roku players, and Amazon Fire TV.
The Apple TV app is now available on more than 1 billion screens in over 100 countries around the world, bringing together different ways to explore and enjoy shows, movies, and moments.
With a new dedicated Apple TV+ tab on iOS and tvOS in the Apple TV app, exploring and enjoying famous Apple Originals is easier than ever. Customers can subscribe directly to premium channels such as AMC+, CBS All Access, SHOWTIME, and Starz, and also access content from providers such as Disney+, Peacock, HBO Max, and Discovery+ quickly, buy or rent more than 100,000 new releases and classic films and TV shows, access their Apple collection of past purchases, and browse customized and curated recommendations, all on the Apple TV app.
Apple launched premium movies on demand in 2020, allowing customers to watch movies from the safety of their homes the day they were released such as “Trolls World Tour,” “The Invisible Man,” “Emma,” and “The Croods: A New Age. “
The Apple TV app also launched “Essential Stories,” showcasing film and TV Black artistry, featuring original artwork with more to come by Darien Birks, Loveis Smart, and Richard Chance. And for the whole year, the Apple TV app featured free movies and TV shows to help customers stay entertained.
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ has been awarded 159 award nominations and 45 wins, including a Primetime Emmy Award, Daytime Emmy Award, SAG Award, NAACP Image Award, Peabody Award, Critics Choice Award, Critics Choice Documentary Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, Cinema Eye Award, Kidscreen Awards, and more, since its global launch on November 1, 2019.
With its widely acclaimed dramas, comedies, feature films, and documentaries, Apple TV+ has sparked worldwide discussions. “Apple Originals have seen Apple TV+ record viewership and have been featured on multiple “Best of 2020” lists, with top critics hailing “Ted Lasso,” “The Morning Show,” “Tehran,” “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special,” “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet,” “On the Rocks,” “Beastie Boys Story,” “Wolfwalkers,” “Boys State,” “Little America,” “Visible: Out on TV,” “Trying,” and more.
Also, Apple TV+ was one of the first outlets to regularly offer important, thoughtful stories to clients when the world came to a standstill in 2020. “Mythic Quest: Quarantine” and new series such as “Oprah Talks COVID-19,” “Fraggle Rock: Rock On!” have been hailed as a “masterpiece, and “Helpsters Help You” entertained and provided families with valuable knowledge while they sat at home.
Customers can enjoy the second seasons of Apple Originals “Dickinson,” “Servant,” and “For All Mankind,” as well as new series “Losing Alice,” and highly anticipated films “Palmer” and “Cherry,” and the documentary “Billie Eilish: The A Little Blurry of the World.
Apple TV+ will also premiere new stories from the largest storytellers in the world throughout the year, including “The Mosquito Coast,” “Lisey’s Story,” “Foundation,” “Severance,” and “Pachinko,” as well as “The Morning Show” and “See,” new seasons of returning classics.
Apple News
In 2020, Apple News introduced world-class, curated journalism. With special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, the social justice movement, and the US elections, its team of editors provided readers with trusted knowledge from quality news outlets about the year’s biggest and most important stories.
In select US cities, as well as Apple News+ audio, Apple News has also introduced customized and curated local news, with professionally narrated versions of the most thought-provoking feature stories available to Apple News+ subscribers. Plus, Apple News Today’s latest regular audio briefing gave listeners a new way to tap into all of Apple News’ great journalism.
Apple Fitness+
Customers are seeking inspiration to follow their wellness goals as the new year starts and move further with Fitness+. Fitness+, the first fitness service designed around Apple Watch, brings studio-style workouts to the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, making it easier for users to get started with a workout and close their rings anytime, anywhere, whether they are jumpstarting a new fitness routine or changing up their existing workouts.
Apple Watch’s smart and seamless integration of key workout metrics that users love and the motivational music of top artists keep users excited by every workout. Best of all, from a team of celebrated, charismatic, diverse, and dedicated coaches who are experts in their fields, Fitness+ provides workouts for everyone, motivated to train at all levels, from beginners to fitness enthusiasts.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is the simpler and safer way to pay in shops using only an iPhone or Apple Watch, and now Apple Pay is approved by more than 90% of shops in the US, 85% of shops in the UK, and 99% of shops in Australia, meaning consumers can leave their physical cards at home. Apple Pay also offers the easiest and most safe way to buy online, with shopping rapidly moving online.
Apple Arcade
In 2020, Apple Arcade, the award-winning game subscription service, proved to be a fun and secure outlet for families looking for immersive entertainment around the world. More than 140 of the world’s best mobile games are brought together by Apple Arcade, with individual titles winning more than 50 awards and nominations.
A family of up to six can enjoy unlimited access to all of the games in Apple Arcade on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV with a single subscription, all without any advertisements or extra in-app purchases. The ever-growing collection includes exclusives from iconic brands such as “LEGO Brawls,” “Sonic Racing,” “Crossy Road Castle,” and “SpongeBob: Patty Pursuit,” as well as “Grindstone,” “What the Golf?” and Arcade originals. “, and “Little Orpheus.”
Apple Books
Customers can conveniently access Apple Books’ ebooks and audiobooks on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and listen to their Apple Watch audiobook library and CarPlay in their cars. As digital book-buying boomed in 2020, for the first time with more individuals trying ebooks and audiobooks, Apple Books saw phenomenal growth in new customers and now attracts over 90 million active users every month.
Apple Books also saw strong growth in many genres in 2020, including double-digit increases in escape fare such as Mysteries & Thrillers, and Romance, as well as even greater rises in Kids, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cookbooks, Food & Wine downloads.
Customers will also enjoy Apple Books’ 1,000 Free Books series, which is updated twice a week. Apple Books for Writers was also introduced in 2020, providing valuable tools for writing, publishing, selling, and promoting books on Apple Books, and further cementing Apple’s role as the most friendly forum for independent authors and major publishers in the industry.
Apple Podcasts
Listeners have switched to Apple Podcasts during 2020 to help make sense of the moment. Podcasts played a particularly significant role in the lives of clients with gripping stories and fresh perspectives by helping them remain aware, updated, and inspired.
Podcasts are now available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and HomePod, and other smart speakers in over 175 countries with programming in more than 100 languages, Apple Podcasts is the perfect place for listeners to discover and enjoy their favorite shows, and for creators to share their voice with the world.
iCloud
iCloud allows a seamless experience to keep the images, videos, files, notes, and other essential data of a customer secure, up-to-date, and usable across all their devices. With two-factor authentication, an additional layer of protection designed to ensure that no one else can access their accounts or data, more than 85% of iCloud users are secured.
Apple sign-in provides users with a fast, secure, and more private way to sign in to third-party apps and websites. And up to six family members can share access to a single iCloud storage plan, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+ with Family Sharing, or bundle it all with an Apple One subscription. Family Sharing also enables members of the family to share individual purchases of music, movies, TV, books, and apps.
