In the beginning, there was the Apple I and its progeny. Then came the indomitable Macintosh followed by iPod, iTunes, iPhone, the App Store, iPad, Apple Watch and everything in-between. Now, Apple is working on hatching a new golden goose.
Apple seems to have found a new golden opportunity. The company is working on a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware products, a move that could make device ownership similar to paying a monthly app fee, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources.
The service will enable users to subscribe to hardware, rather than just digital services… Such a service would be a real revolution at Apple, which has always sold its hardware products at cash prices or in installments via the partnership with Citizens One.
And almost certainly it would enable Apple to pull in consumers who consider its products too expensive and are reluctant to lay out large sums for a smartphone or a laptop.
The program would differ from an installment program in that the monthly charge wouldn’t be the price of the device split across 12 or 24 months. Rather, it would be a yet-to-be-determined monthly fee that depends on which device the user chooses.
The company has also discussed enabling users of the program to swap out their devices for new models when fresh hardware comes out.
MacDailyNews Take: A real hardware subscription service would be a game-changer for Apple, enabling the company to maintain high quality products – and margins – while attracting the price-sensitive user who has always longed for real Apple products, but settled for knockoffs of Macs, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, etc. from the innumerable followers of the world.
Of course, an iPhone – and/or iPad, Mac, etc. – subscription service would be an optional way to get the hardware, in addition to the usual product sales, outright and subsidized.
$99 per month gets you an iPhone and every Apple service. Presented like that, it’d be insanely irresistible. And every “new to iPhone” customer will immediately and irrevocably be steeped in Apple’s Hotel California ecosystem… We bet if Apple offered iPhones along with services bundled into one monthly fee – offer tick boxes for Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, iCloud Storage, etc. – they’d have a winning sales strategy (Apple Prime) on their hands! — MacDailyNews, September 11, 2019
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