Apple is going all in on subscription services. On Tuesday, the company announced a new fitness subscription platform called Apple Fitness+ that works via its Apple Watch and a new subscription bundle system that seeks to simplify the myriad offerings.
Ethan Wolff-Mann for Yahoo Finance:
Using metrics like heart rate from the Apple Watch, Apple Fitness allows a user to access a workout class no matter where they are and on any Apple device. Though Apple didn’t reference the coronavirus pandemic that closed gyms across the country, the company likely sees an opportunity to gain market share without that type of competition. The service will cost $9.99/mo.
If you’re deep into the company’s ecosystem, Apple wants you to try its bundle Apple One, which comes in three tiers.
The premium tier costs $29.95/mo and includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage. The individual and family tiers have the music, TV, arcade, and cloud services for one or to share.
The subscription model may seem like a departure from the hardware-centric business model, but Apple does keep its devices front and center, as the Apple Watch’s role in its fitness app illustrates. But even if this isn’t something anyone asked for, Apple seems confident that it can create a new category to lead.
MacDailyNews Take: Fitness+ will be a success and the Apple One bundle will be a huge hit that will help some of the more, shall we say, lightly-subscribed-to services (News+, for example) immensely.
I was already using 2TB iCloud, AppleTV+, Apple News+, Family Music… costing $40/month once I start getting charged for Tv+…. so moving to Apple One Premier saves me $10/month plus I’ll get Arcade and my wife will get Fitness+. Love it.
Fitness+, to get rid of the “Covid 15” …
It will cost me $10 more than I am currently paying but Premier will provide Fitness, News and Arcade plus 1.6GB more storage. I’m in.
Premier is a home run for me and my family. I cannot wait for full service to be launched!