Apple Unleashed: Company Targets MLB, India, South Korea and More

From India and South Korea to major league baseball and a new Apple Fitness+ series, Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial) is growing in all directions at the same time – leaving investors jacked.

Apple is said to be looking to stream Major League Baseball games through its Apple TV+ streaming service. According to an article in the New York Post, the company is in serious discussions to stream weekday national games that were previously broadcasted by Disney's (DIS, Financial) ESPN.

Success breeds confidence. Apple’s stock price was at $174.74 shortly before the market’s close today, a gain of 1.44%. Just a week ago, it became the first company to hit a $3 trillion market cap.

Major league baseball is clearly Apple’s most eye-catching recent initiative. “ESPN recently gave up the rights to broadcast Monday and Wednesday games, which were not exclusive in local markets,” Zacks Equity Research noted. “An Apple-MLB deal will mark Apple’s entry into the lucrative live sports market currently dominated by the likes of Disney through ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC and CBS. Streaming service providers like Apple and Amazon (AMZN, Financial) are new entrants in this market space.”

Apple executives have reportedly been wanting to gain the rights to live sports for a while, with some rumors focusing on Pac-12 college sporting events for 2024, according to 9TO5Mac report. The deal with major league baseball would broaden Apple TV+’s content portfolio. The service is scrambling to get its share of a market that is crowded with struggling to gain footprint amid stiff competition, led by Netflix (NFLX).

Globally, Reuters reported earlier today that South Korea's telecommunications regulator confirmed that the iPhone maker had submitted plans to allow third-party payment systems on its app store to comply with a law banning major app store operators from forcing software developers to use their payments systems.

“The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) had requested Apple Inc and Alphabet's Google to submit compliance plans after the bill was passed in August last year,” Reuters noted. “The law went into effect in September.”

"Apple has a great deal of respect for Korea's laws and a strong history of collaboration with the country's talented app developers... We look forward to working with the KCC and our developer community on a solution that benefits our Korean users," Apple said in a statement. The KCC said Apple plans to allow alternative payment systems for a lower service fee versus the current 30% commissions.

At the same time, it has been reported that Apple is planning to mass produce the iPhone 13 in India beginning in February. According to Yahoo, expansion of its manufacturing hub in India is anticipated to boost Apple’s supply of iPhones. It said, “It is estimated that 20% to 30% of iPhones produced in India will be exported. It will bolster the supply of the iPhone 13, which has garnered significant demand in the local market.”

On the heels of its guided audio efforts with Time to Walk, Apple yesterday announced the rollout of its new Apple Fitness+ series Time to Run, which it described as “an audio running experience designed to help users become more consistent and better runners, featuring popular running routes in some of the most notable cities.”

Time to Run episodes feature “inspiring coaching tips” from Fitness+ coaches Emily Fayette, Jamie-Ray Hartshorne, Sam Sanchez, Scott Carvin, and Cory Wharton-Malcolm paired with “motivational and energizing music.” Each episode takes users to unique, iconic locations around the world and the series can be used for indoor runs on a treadmill as well as outdoor runs. New episodes will launch for Apple Watch on Mondays. Meanwhile, the company has also introduced Season Three of Time to Walk featuring Rebel Wilson, Bernice A. King, Chris Meloni and more. Both Time to Run and Time to Walk are available for Apple Fitness+ subscribers

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