“In the face of evolving smartphone-purchasing dynamics and the growing success of its underhyped services division, Apple could temper its tempestuous and cyclical hardware sales patterns by introducing a new option for consumers,” Christina Bonnington writes for Slate. “As prominent Apple analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco suggested, Apple could offer a bundled services subscription.”
“In The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Dediu posits that Apple could resolve its quarterly financial discrepancies by fully bowing to the fact that it’s an ecosystem provider—and giving consumers an all-inclusive subscription payment option for the services in that ecosystem,” Bonnington writes. “‘Throw in health monitoring, an iCloud subscription, Apple Music, Apple’s original programming and more into a cable-television-like bundle, or a la carte, and Apple could go from being a hit-driven company to one that throws off predictable, consistent, subscription-based revenue,’ the Wall Street Journal writes. ‘Think of it as Apple Prime.'”
“Apple offers a number of different services that iOS users can pay for on a monthly basis: extra iCloud storage (which ranges from $0.99–$9.99 per month), Apple Music (which costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for an individual subscription), media subscriptions (such as Netflix, HBO Now, or Spotify), AppleCare+ (its extended warranty program), and its iPhone Upgrade Program.,” Bonnington writes. “As it stands, these various subscriptions are fragmented, which can make them more difficult to manage and track. iOS lets you manage media subscriptions, such as Apple Music, within one section of your iPhone settings, but other Apple-centric purchases, such as additional iCloud storage packages, are located in a different area of the settings menu. If you want to subscribe to each of these things, it can be tedious.”
Bonnington writes, “By lumping all of these services into a discounted all-in-one package (or an à la carte version where customers can easily select which options they’re interested in), Apple could streamline its service offerings.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What a great idea! Wish we’d thought of it. Oh, wait. We did, over two years ago:
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
SEE ALSO:
Analyst: Apple should mix hardware and services into ‘Apple Prime’ subscription – February 5, 2018
Sounds good to me. Even have MacBook, MacBook Pro, etc. iPhones at various levels. They already have hooks into my accounts.
Good for Apple’s bank account. Bad for users.
For businesses, renting is a tax ploy. For end users, renting is a false economy that leaves you poorer by the month.
I’d like to see it go a step further and maybe for en extra bump in price you could get an Apple TV, with Upgrades very 3 Years, Or an iMac aging with an upgrade ever X years.
Many even do an Apple home were you can get.
1. Desktop Mac
1. Portable Mac.
1. iPad.
1. iPhone
1. Apple TV
1. HomePod
All with Apple Care for the length of the contract.
at 1 incredible monthly fee.
Apple Prime, I like it! Good idea.
Everybody wants to be a utility and scratch your pocketbook every month.
No thanks.
Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Phone yes.
Amazon Prime? Yes
Apple in a closed system? Not so much.
electricity, gas, and water are, open systems? They’re closed systems.
Never said they were open systems.
Sounds good to me. I use a range of services and it would be good bundle them and offer a discount.
I think Apple needs to invent a TV show and air it on Apple Music. My idea: have a show about smartphone Apps! After all, Apple gets a huge chunk of money from services, so it makes perfect sense. They should follow the Shark Tank format.. make it really competitive. But not too competitive, don’t want to rile up the snowflakes,
Another invention: make a show about people singing songs in cars. Again, sell it on Apple Music… this plays to Apple’s strengths–did you know that Apple was originally a record company?
Lastly, they should invent a show about Dr. Dre.. they should make it all about Dr. Dre’s glamorous lifestyle, call it something like “Is There a Doctor in the House?” or “Vital Signs” or something to play off the fact that Dr. Dre is, in fact, a medical doctor.
I don’t keep all my eggs in the same basket. I would never do that.
I believe a bundled streaming package would be great for Apple devices. Because Amazon is praised for doing this then so should Apple be praised. Apple can easily afford it and should provide an extra reason to purchase Apple hardware. I just don’t know why it’s taking Apple so long to get this through their head. Apple Prime Content sounds good to me. I would prefer they split the services for video and music and offer a discount for those who desire both services. I think that would be a great boost for Apple services.
How much for it?