In an attempt to establish itself as a leading source of sports news and entertainment, Apple launched a new free iPhone app on Wednesday for keeping score on sporting events.
One thing that the Apple Sports app excels at is displaying sports scores from all of the main teams and leagues. On Wednesday, the first day of the Major League Soccer season, users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom can download it.
According to Apple Services Chief Eddy Cue, the app was made to be quick and easy to use for several brief inspections a day. Because Apple doesn’t support any teams or leagues and has no incentive to keep users on the app for extended periods of time, it will differentiate itself from other sports score applications, he asserted.
“You want your scores basically to be real time. You want them to be really easy to get to. And nothing else is getting in the way. And that’s the primary purpose of the app,” Cue stated in an interview conducted last week, his voice raspy from screaming during the Super Bowl.
In recent years, Apple has expanded its presence in the sports world by acquiring the broadcast rights for Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, incorporating more sports content into its News app, and showcasing documentaries on teams like the New England Patriots and the Golden State Warriors on Apple TV+.
According to CNBC, Apple lost out on the rights to National Football League games last year. It is anticipated that Apple will participate in the National Basketball Association’s forthcoming licensing negotiations. Similar to Google and Amazon, Apple views important live sporting events as possible focal points for its streaming portfolio.
Although it won’t be pre-installed on iPhones, Apple’s other Services apps, including the TV and News apps, are closely connected with this new app.
When the user opens the Sports app for the first time, many will see scores from their favorite teams since, for instance, it will import the user’s pre-existing selections for preferred teams, sports, and leagues from those apps.
The Apple News and Apple TV apps also manage notifications and live activities. These include pre-existing functionality like alerts for nearby games the user is interested in or notifications for game start times.
Sport-specific details, including who scored goals, who’s on the court, and who’s at first base, are typically included on game pages. Live betting odds will also be displayed on pages, but users can disable them in the settings.
Frequently, the game sites will also have an Apple TV button. This implies that the user can watch a livestream of the game by tapping the button. It functions with both the sports that Apple carries and the games on streaming services that are linked to the Apple TV app; the latter are becoming more and more accessible through over-the-top streamers, although many still require a cable subscription.
“In an ideal world, when I’m looking at the Duke game, it says open the TV app, I’d like it to get me to the game of basketball,” Cue stated. “And that’s what we try to do.”
The greatest Apple gadget for viewing sports on a large virtual display is the Vision Pro headset, but amazingly, there isn’t a special edition available.
Cue has stated that even before Apple launched a streaming service, the company wanted to improve the way sports were distributed. In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he criticized cable channel guidelines, pointing out that it was difficult to locate the Duke game. Apple provided Sports Illustrated with access to a war room that the corporation constructed in 2019 so that it could track games and provide alerts.
According to Cue, Apple works with streaming services and app developers behind the scenes to integrate their products with Apple’s services, for example. Apple wants to make finding sports information easy and clear, and eventually, it wants to be able to cue up the game with a few clicks.
“As a huge sports fan, there’s never been a better time, there’s never been a worse time,” Cue remarked. “The best time is that pretty much everything in the world is televised in some fashion. But it’s never been worse. Because of the amount of services, the rights, the blackouts, the restrictions.”
According to Cue, Apple will also have features that will allow users to follow college basketball’s March Madness tournament in the app,
