Apple who are looking to grow sales of Apple TV have announced an exclusive deal with HBO that will give Apple fans access to Game Of Thrones episodes, they have also slashed the price of their Apple TV box the only problem is that neither the HBO or price cut for the TV box is available in Australia.
Australians it appears will miss out according to Apple executive Fiona Martin who said that the Apple TV Box will remain at $109.
At the Apple Spring Forward event in San Francisco wher Apple launched their new smartwatch HBO CEO Richard Plepler officially announce the network’s new HBO Now standalone service, which will debut “exclusively on Apple devices.
Apple announced that the price of the Apple TV box that competes head on with Chromecast will drop from over $100 to $69 in the USA.
Calling the move a “transformative moment for HBO,” Plepler revealed official pricing for the service, which, as we previously reported, will run $15 a month without the need for a cable or satellite subscription.
Plepler also confirmed the service will offer a similar experience to that of the HBO Go app, offering “past, present, and future” HBO content, but without the need for authentication.
While no specific launch date was mentioned, as expected, the service will debut in time for HBO’s newest season of shows like Veep, Silicon Valley, and Game of Thrones. The season 5 premiere date for Game of Thrones is currently set for April 12, 2015.
However, today’s news does mean that, at least initially, you’ll have to own an Apple device such as an iPad or iPhone or Apple TV box to catch the new shows legitimately.
To celebrate the event, Plepler also revealed an exclusive new Game of Thrones Trailer, which gave a telling glimpse at all the carnage, sex, and political intrigue you’d expect from the iconic show for its 5th season.
As for the lowered price for the Apple TV, the move seems to stand as a fire sale for the aging device, which hasn’t been updated since 2012. Some analysts have predicted we’ll see a new Apple TV as early as June of this year, with the possibility of a new Apple TV streaming service bundled in to compete with offerings from the likes of Foxtel.
Currently JB Hi Fi and Hasrvey Norman are selling tewns of thousands of Google’s Chromecast for $49.
Google has other devices that would benefit from the partnership as well, including its new Asus-made Google Nexus Player, and the forthcoming Android TV smart TV platform. Apple’s Apple TV is also an obvious choice to house the new application.
