New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge, #99, hits Roger Maris’ record 62nd home run during the game between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on October 4, 2022.
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apple It launched a free new iPhone app for tracking sports scores on Wednesday, its latest effort to become a major provider of sports content and news.
The app, called Apple Sports, does one thing well: it shows sports results from all the major teams and leagues. Users in the US, Canada and the UK can download it on Wednesday, the first day of the Major League Soccer season.
Apple service chief Eddy Cue said Apple designed the app to be quick and simple for many quick checks a day. It will stand out from other sports scores apps because Apple doesn’t represent a team or league and has no incentive to attract users for long sessions, he said.
“You want your scores to be basically real-time. You want it to be very easy to get to. And there’s nothing else getting in the way. And that’s the primary purpose of the app,” Cue said, hoarse from cheering. Super Bowl, in an interview last week.
Apple has moved into sports in recent years by buying rights to and streaming Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer games, adding additional sports journalism in its News app and features sports documentaries about teams like the Golden State Warriors and New England Patriots on Apple TV+.
Apple also bid for rights to National Football League games last year before losing out to YouTube, CNBC reported, and is expected to participate in upcoming rights negotiations for the National Basketball Association. Apple, like Google and Amazon, is eyeing major live sporting events as a potential anchor for its streaming services.
This new app, which won’t come pre-installed on iPhones, is tightly integrated with Apple’s other Services apps, such as the TV app and the News app.
For example, it will take the user’s existing preferences for favorite teams, sports and leagues from these apps, so when the Sports app is first opened, many will already see scores from their favorite teams.
Notifications and live activity are also handled by the Apple News and Apple TV apps, including existing features such as game start time notifications or notification of a closing game of interest to the user.
Most game pages will include information about specific sports, such as who scored a goal, which players are on the field, or who is on first base. The pages will also include live betting odds, but users can turn them off in the settings.
Game pages will also often include an Apple TV button. This means that the user can press the button to see a live stream of the game. It works for sports carried by Apple, as well as games on streaming services connected to the Apple TV app, many of which still require a cable subscription but will increasingly be available from over-the-top streamers.
“In an ideal world, when I’m watching the Duke game, it says open the TV app, I’d like it to take me to the basketball game,” Cue said. “And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Notably, there is no special edition for Apple’s new Vision Pro headset, which is Apple’s best product for watching sports on a virtual big screen.
Cue has talked about Apple’s desire to fix sports distribution ever since Apple had a streaming service. Criticized cable channel guides in 2016 Iinterview with Hollywood Reporter, and how hard it was to find the Duke game. In 2019, Apple took a look at Sports Illustrated in a war room the company built to monitor games and send alerts.
Cue said Apple does enough behind the scenes to work with app developers and streaming providers to make their services work seamlessly with Apple’s services, for example. Apple’s goal is to make finding sports information simple and clean, and ultimately to seamlessly refresh the game with a few taps.
“As a huge sports fan, there’s never been a better time, there’s never been a worse time,” Cue said. “The best time is that almost everything in the world is televised in some way. But it’s never been worse. Because of the volume of services, the rights, the blackouts, the restrictions.”
Apple will also have features that allow users to watch college basketball’s March Madness tournament in the app, Cue said.
Here’s a list of the leagues Apple says it will support:
- MLB
- NFL
- NCAA Football
- WNBA
- MLS
- NBA
- NCAA Basketball (Men’s and Women’s)
- NHL
- Bundesliga
- LaLiga
- Liga MX
- League 1
- Premier League
- Serie A
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