“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