A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself

“Since launching Apple Music in 2015, Apple has slowly expanded its streaming and subscription media ambitions. The company acquired Texture, the ‘Netflix of magazines,’ in April, and has been gobbling up the rights to a variety of TV series and movies for months,” Christina Bonnington writes for The Slate. “According to a report by The Information, Apple is considering a streaming bundle pulling together its TV, music, and news offerings.”

“A bundled media subscription like this is good news, both for Apple device owners and for Apple itself,” Bonnington writes. “For consumers, it provides a simplified way to gain access to Apple’s streaming and media content. Right now, all of Apple’s services—iCloud, Apple Music, iTunes—are separate subscriptions or purchases. Having to manage additional news or magazine subscriptions and streaming video subscriptions on top of its existing options could become a logistical headache. A media bundle like this is also typically cheaper than purchasing a subscription of each separate service individually, and depending on how frequently it’s used, could provide greater value for consumers.”

MacDailyNews Take: Yup, again.

We’d really like to see a way to pay for all of the Apple services we choose for one price. Give us a bunch of tick boxes and let us choose our combination of iCloud storage, Apple Music, iTunes Match, etc. and let us pay a single price for all of our choices. — MacDailyNews, October 17, 2016

“A bundled offering could help Apple’s music streaming service gain valuable new subscribers,” Bonnington writes. “It could create another benefit as well: Apple’s HomePod sales have been lackluster so far. Many reviewers criticized the device for only natively supporting Apple Music as a streaming music player. But if new Apple Music subscribers enter the fold thanks to this purported streaming bundle, it could be the first step in luring them toward devices such as HomePod.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: HomePod(s) + Apple Music are a marriage made in heaven. With Music, Siri actually works quite well (plus she’ll give you the weather forecast, read you the latest news, give you sports scores, and more), so it’s a very enjoyable experience. We’ve sold some HomePods to friends and family simply by having them try our HomePods. The lure of asking for any song you want and having it play in such high-quality sound (as opposed to an Echo, for example) is really compelling.

On that note: “Hey Siri, play Boats, Beaches, Bars, and Ballads.” And, beloved interns, TTK!

SEE ALSO:
Apple reportedly considering subscription bundle of Apple Music, News and original video content – June 28, 2018
Apple is building a media platform like we’ve never seen before – June 27, 2018
Here’s how much Apple could make from streaming – June 27, 2018
Apple’s next $10 billion frontier is content creation – June 25, 2018
Apple intends to beat Netflix on price with standalone subscription to original content – June 19, 2018