“Apple tends to not care much about price competitiveness,” Josh Horwitz reports for Quartz. “Without telco subsidies, which typically occur only in rich countries, consumers looking to buy an iPhone 6 in Asia will have to shell out as much as $600.”
“But the company is taking a different approach with Apple Music, its new music streaming service,” Horwitz reports. “Whereas prices for iPhones tend to stay high even in poor countries, in the case of Apple Music they’re lower—indicating the company is serious about courting emerging markets with digital media.”
“In the US, Apple is charging monthly fees of $10 for an individual Apple Music account, and $15 for a family account that can be shared with up to six people,” Horwitz reports. “In poorer countries, the pricing is much lower. In India, for example, the monthly fee is $2 for individual and $3 for family plans. In Brazil, Indonesia, and Thailand, it’s $5 and $7; in Hong Kong, $6 and $10; and in Singapore, $7.50 and $11 (in US dollars).”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Go get ’em, Apple Music!
So I am subsidizing other countries?
Not really as labels get 71.5% of payments Apple gets from you, which is typical and not depending on what happens in other countries.
You’re taxing us all with the air you consume.
How it feels for the boot to be on the other foot! Wealthy countries are used to paying more for Apple’s services than in the U.S. and now U.S. customers are paying more for the same service than other countries.
I think you meant “Poor countries are used to paying more…”, at least I hope you meant that, or you aren’t making sense.
India doesn’t care about 90% of the music. Just the 10% (or lower percent) indian content. So they should only pay ) $0.99c.
For Apple, the primary goal of Apple Music is NOT to be a profit center. I’m sure Apple is charging the lowest prices that “big music” allows. The primary goal for Apple Music (like Apple Pay, App Store, iBooks Store, iTunes Store, Siri, etc.) is to enhance the user experience of Apple’s hardware customers, where Apple makes its “real” profit. These services are “value-added,” to promote customer satisfaction and loyalty, so that they come back to buy MORE Apple hardware products.
Yeah, but the average Indian probably makes $10 a day at best. So it likely works out.
They have to listen to something while they do out IT jobs!
That’s “…so OUR IT jobs.”
Fuggit. Between spell check and not being able to edit posts (hey, MDN, it’s not 1999) I give up!
You made me crack up so I down voted you. 😝
I gave you five stars for dissing me!
Yes but have you listened to music from India? 😉
(remember, there’s a wink face there, I’m just kidding!)
Hong Kong and Singapore are “poor countries?” That’s a laugh!
and you have to have a India ip address……
Hola India!!!
Poor country!!! For one streaming is already a crowded place in india with similar and cheaper offerenings, and all of them have a free streaming option which covers most of the popular music both local and international. Apple has a tough and long battle down here.
If you can afford an iPhone in India you can afford $10, charging less in Singapore than Australia is just laughable
Apple Music might be cheaper, but the internet fee is 10x more expensive than North American.
This is probably more to do with licensing agreements in those countries. And if so, it would seem the US recording industry demands the highest amount of cash.
$600 huh? Come down to New Zealand, you’ll pay almost TWICE that.