The service will go live within the next two months. The firm is considering a US$9.99 monthly price point for it as it tries to hit US$50 billion in service sales by 2020. (Financial Times, Bloomberg)

Talking point: Apple’s service will be more expensive and have less content than its biggest rivals. Netflix starts at US$9 a month. And, on Monday, Disney announced it will launch Disney Plus on November 12 at US$6.99 a month. Apple’s launch is designed to come just ahead of Disney’s in an attempt to undercut its competitor. While Disney can rely on its decades-long back catalogue, as well as its bundling with Hulu and ESPN Plus, Apple is creating content from scratch. Much of the US$6 billion Apple is spending is going into a handful of marquee original shows. One show—starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell—is already costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars, more per episode than Game of Thrones. Despite the massive spending increase, Apple’s output still pales in comparison to another rival, Netflix, which is on track to spend US$14 billion on content this year.