“What if you could always have the latest iPhone, run the latest iPad and have the latest Mac? What if you could access all your music, movies and TV shows and take a ride share summoned by your Apple Watch, all for a single monthly fee, like Apple Music?” Jonny Evans asks for Computerworld.
CCS Insights predicts “Apple will introduce a combined subscription model for its hardware and services in 2018,” Evans writes. “The idea seems solid: You pay a monthly fee to get the hardware and services you want to enjoy. You already do if you use Apple Music and the iPhone Upgrade scheme. You’ll always have the latest in this deal.”
Evans writes, “There’s some grist to this rumor’s mill: Why else do you think Apple Retail is being redesigned to become a social space? Apple future isn’t just about hardware sales.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If the prices make sense for both Apple and customers, we see no reason why it shouldn’t be offered.
Right now we keep ourselves in the latest Apple hardware by purchasing it and then selling it on when its time to move to newer Apple hardware. The difference between purchase price and what we can get for used equipment is sometimes a wide gulf. We see the potential for saving money (and time, which is money) via subscription (rental) hardware than by the current approach. They lease cars, allowing many drivers to get into better, newer vehicles than could afford to buy, so why not Macs and iPads?
disposable dumb terminals.
i’ll build my own thanks.
Lol, what? How does switching from a sale to a lease change the product into a dumb terminal?
Not worth it. Especially when there are 3 years between models.
…and those models use last year’s hardware.
Oh stuff it. What current Intel chip beyond what they used would have more power and speed that would fit into this chassis and overall power consumption/thermal envelope, etc. considerations?
Enough with the “last year’s chip” and “dongle hell” memes. Such trendy repeatable snark – however – as the last election shows, the power of the know nothings, know a littles and downright meddling dissemblers is growing on a credulous “netizenry”….
If memory serves, there have been two or three suitable updates to just the CPU that’s in the Mac Pro (“trash can”), and had it not been for a horrifically bad packaging job for maintaining/updating, there’s also been some better GPUs as well.
Similarly, let us keep in mind that stuff like packaging & thermal envelope are 100% ARTIFICIAL design constraints that were chosen by and added by Apple. As such, when they’ve designed themselves into an untenable corner is their own damn fault.
And “Dongle Hell” is not a fiction. I’m going to have to lay out all of the Apple Dongles that I’ve already bought over the years to illustrate just how much this actually has going on with Apple over the years – for example, over just the past ten years, Apple has changed their Video Out interface four (4) times: DVI, mDP, TB, USB-C.
And sure, we can all say “Progress is Good!”, but it comes at a cost and Dongles are part of the cost which has become more evident (finally!) today…particularly since we’ve all watched Apple over the past four years as the early adopters of Thunderbolt were promised great things … and TB1/TB2 are now being obsoleted with yet another hardware change.
Too much change imposed too unilaterally and too quickly does not result in Delighted Customers.
-hh
Very much not worth it from a “Consumer Value” paradigm…
… when we see that Adobe’s reports to their stockholders was that moving their business model from a purchase to a rental resulted in their profits doubling.
The “iPhone Upgrade scheme” is called Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program.
If you check the economics of car (f)leasing, it is NOT a good deal for the customer. Neither are Adobe’s or Microsoft’s subscription schemes.
I’ll keep buying my hardware and software, thanks.
Agree completely. Not interested in leasing, streaming, or subscriptions. No Adobe Coud, ProTools, any hardware “upgrade” programs for me. I like to own my stuff.
That’s what they said about music. That is what Steve was thinking too.
I am fascinated by the idea of Steve being with us, now, with all these tech blooms all over.
The Adobe CC actually makes senses if you use 4 or more of the application on it. As a graphic designer who makes his living using said tools, it’s a great value. I get to use the latest Adobe has to offer.
I agree; for professionals leasing may make sense. But for hobbyists/casual users like myself, it’s a ripoff.
However, leases have different, and often better tax benefits, than purchased hardware.
Not so much for us commoners. Hopefully Apple will always allow outright purchases, without gouging of course.
Oh hell no!
Yeah right. What’s this guy smoking.
These are highly PERSONAL devices. It’s not like car sharing or cloud computing. You need your own personal devices.
If true, then Apple is trying really hard to come up with one bad idea after another. Just think, a rented iPhone with no local storage and Apple Music and other Apple services with a monthly fee constantly being shoved down your throat. You own nothing and have control over nothing.
Not interested.
If I want an Apple I sort of own but don’t really, really own, I’ll charge it on one of those credit cards that let them come to your door if you miss your payments.
Ditto, and the same goes for music and media (video) as wel.l
this is not a new idea…
we have discussed this here many times…
i think it will be a fantastic idea.. with diffetent subscription tires and bundles..
What about personal information stored on my Mac? How can I be sure that when it goes back to Apple the information is removed.
I get rid of my old phones and hard disks with a hammer!
Hope you’re not an NFL player or you’ll get suspended for 4 games for doing that.
Ample masic is wone anxample of a sambscription servicse that works. preople have damnonstrated that thay want to rant music if they can have a wyde range or unlingmited selanction of artists. Whather this croncept can apply to hradwarre rantals or subscramptions is unknown at this point. If anyone can make the idea work, it’s Ample.
Certainly car leasing is a bad deal for consumers. But it’s fine if they want to give consumers a choice between buying and renting – just don’t force the subscription model.
Good bye Apple! That is all!!!
That is the DUMBEST THING ever written period!!!!
Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple executives would laugh in your face if you told them this.
““What if you could always have the latest iPhone, run the latest iPad and have the latest Mac? ”
What if you lost your job and your source of income and communication consequently disappeared?
No thanks. I don’t want somebody else’s junk. I prefer my own junk. 😂