“On Thursday, The Information, citing ‘people familiar with the company’s plans,’ reported that Apple planned to combine news, magazine articles and television into a single subscription product,” Marino-Nachison reports. “Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that such a service might include iCloud storage as well. Apple bought a digital magazine service in March; some have speculated about other possibilities, such as health monitoring.”

“Would you buy the Apple, er, value meal? You might, especially if you’re already a customer of one or more of the company’s other subscription services. Given sufficient consumer perception of value, that could considerably lower the chance a customer unsubscribes,” Marino-Nachison reports. “(Though it’s certainly possible, or even likely, that Apple services would also be sold a la carte.)”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Supersize us!

We’ve got a feeling that this September/October is going to be jam-packed with Apple goodness!

Once 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

SEE ALSO:
Why a supersized Apple streaming video bundle just might work – June 28, 2018
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
Apple announces multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey – June 15, 2018

“On Wednesday, The Information reported that Apple is thinking about launching ‘a single subscription offering that would encompass its original TV shows, music service and magazine articles,'” Jhonsa writes. “With The New York Times having previously reported that Apple is ‘targeting somewhere between March 2019 and the summer of that year to roll out its slate of new programming,’ it’s possible that a music/video/magazine subscription bundle arrives in about a year’s time.”

“Long before The Information‘s report came out, at least a few people had argued that Apple should roll out more comprehensive subscription services for its giant installed base,” Jhonsa writes. “In May, Matthew Ball, the former head of strategy for Amazon Studios, made a case for the launching of subscription services that could cover not just music and video content, but also other services such as iCloud storage and AppleCare support, and also (notably) the right to upgrade to a new version of one or more devices following the passing of a given amount of time (for example, one iPhone upgrade every two years).”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple rolling out more comprehensive subscription services sounds like an excellent idea:

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

Why not have an “Apple TV” service to go along with “Apple Music” and sell each separately with the option to bundle both at a better price? For example, $9.99/mo. each or $14.99/mo. for both? — MacDailyNews, June 27, 2018

SEE ALSO:
We might be inching closer to ‘Apple Prime’ – June 28, 2018
Why a supersized Apple streaming video bundle just might work – June 28, 2018
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
Apple announces multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey – June 15, 2018

“I have no direct knowledge that this will happen but if you read the tea leaves surrounding Apple’s various acquisitions and new media emphasis, it is not too hard to see this possibility,” Bajarin writes. “With that in mind, their most strategic investment so far this year that could be related to this is Texture, the magazine subscription service that has close to 200 magazines in this service for $9.99 a month. I am a big fan of Texture… The service itself has grown from about 20 magazines at launch to the 200+ available today, and now that Apple owns it, I suspect it will add many more new magazine titles to its offering in the future.”

“If they were to follow Amazon’s Prime example, then any service would also need to have video content too,” Bajarin writes. “I would not be surprised to see Apple buy a couple of the smaller video production companies that already have hits in the market to accelerate their original programming. Also, given their tight relationship with Disney and Pixar, I could even see them trying to tap into some of their skills and content as well. However, well planning by Apple when it comes to subscription infrastructure puts them in an excellent place to deliver an encompassing media subscription service.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: We’re very interested to see how Apple sells Texture subscriptiosn and whether “Apple can save magazines” for real this time around (iPad alone was suposed to do that).

SEE ALSO:
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“Apple is in a unique position to offer a similar bundle. Perhaps no other company integrates hardware and services as deeply, or benefits as much with future sales from customers who are invested in its own services,” Cross writes. “What’s more, Apple has both the retail footprint and financial services infrastructure in place to make it work for tens of millions of new customers.”

Cross writes, “Apple has enough services and products, with enough different price points, that it makes sense to break up our hypothetical Apple All Access plan into two tiers.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yes, as soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense.

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:
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

MacDailyNews Take: Starting with, Apple is not a trillion-dollar company anymore. It’s merely a $924.329 billion, post Wall Street’s extended, irrational hissy fit over having their unit sales crutch pulled away.

Pity the pro analysts who were repeated told by Apple to study the company’s services model and to stop relying on the unit sales crutch. Failing that, Apple simply pulled the crutch away. Walk on your own, Apple analysts! — MacDailyNews, November 2, 2018

“In Apple’s recent earnings call, the company said that it would no longer break out unit sales of the iPhone or its other products,” McElhearn writes. ” This change comes as Apple’s iPhone sales have been essentially flat for the past two years – they peaked in the holiday quarter of 2016 – signaling the first time that the company is facing up to the slowing growth in the smartphone market.”

“As Apple increases the average selling price of their device, unit sales are less important, and they don’t want to highlight the fact that they’re not growing any more. But there’s a lot more to it than just the iPhone,” McElhearn writes. “Apple’s ‘services’ revenue for the last quarter was about $10 billion; or about $37 billion for the past year. Services revenues – which include income from the App Stores, the iTunes Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, and AppleCare, along with the money that Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on its operating systems – bring in nearly as much money as the Mac and iPad combined and represent 16% of Apple’s income.”

“This has led a number of analysts to consider the idea of an ‘Apple Prime’ subscription service; one subscription to all of Apple’s services (perhaps including AppleCare),” McElhearn writes. ” Imagine a single monthly fee for Apple Music, Apple’s video service, additional iCloud storage, and perhaps other perks. This would be an easy sell if it were priced right, and it’s a lot easier to get people to pay for a bundle of services than individual services.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yes, as soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense.

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:
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“Tim Cook’s letter to shareholders on the matter is fascinating. On one hand, he makes a very simple case: chalk it up to China,” Siegler writes. “On the other hand, all of that could have been explained in one or two paragraphs. Cook’s letter is nearly 1,500 words long.”

In one part of his missive, “Cook is basically making a case for the end of buying phones at full price each year and instead, a world in which you pay Apple in perpetuity to constantly get the new iPhone. This is — wait for it — a service! The name is even right there for the taking: iPaaS — iPhone as a Service,” Siegler writes. “And it’s a service Apple already has, in the form of the iPhone Upgrade Program! Unfortunately, it’s not a great service right now — I’m a member — as it’s largely outsourced to a third-party, Citizens Bank. Cook is suggesting that Apple is going to put a lot more emphasis here. Which makes a lot of sense, both to help continue to obfuscate the true price of the iPhone, but also to keep that all-important base of users locked in. It’s also Apple’s most interesting inroad to an ‘Apple Prime’ offering. That is, an all-encompassing suite of services you pay Apple for — just like Amazon Prime, with all that offers from an Amazon-perspective.”

Much more in the full article – recommended – here.

MacDailyNews Take: Well, as “precarious” as you can get when you’ve just brought in close to US$1 billion per day for the last 90 some odd days in a row. Oh, yeah, and with $237.1 billion in cash on hand as of November; more than that now.

Filed under “oh-so-precarious.”

Quotes with which we’re sure Cook & Co. are quite familiar:

Change before you have to. — Jack Welch

I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don’t have a short-term payback. — Steve Jobs

—

Once 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

For more about the idea of “Apple Prime,” please read: “Apple ‘Prime'” by Kevin Williams from Practical Tech February 26, 2016.

SEE ALSO:
Apple plans to launch TV streaming service first in the U.S., then swiftly expand globally with free original content – October 23, 2018
Apple plans to give away original content for free to device owners as part of new digital TV strategy – October 10, 2018
We might be inching closer to ‘Apple Prime’ – June 28, 2018
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

“With iPhone sales slowing down, Apple could rely on its Services business more than ever to drive growth,” JP Mangalindan writes for Yahoo Finance. “In order to expand that business, the tech giant may need to launch a ‘media bundle’ to rival Amazon’s.”

“In a report published in late January, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty contended Apple’s Services unit — which includes the App Store, AppleCare, iTunes, and iCloud — could reinvigorate Apple’s performance, particularly if Apple follows through later this year with the launch of a ‘media bundle,'” Mangalindan writes. “Here’s how an Apple media bundle, or an Apple Prime, could work: subscribers pay a fee each month to access a Netflix-style streaming service with original films and TV series — the tech giant has at least 20 original projects in the works — as well as Apple Music and a subscription news service.”

“The launch of a compelling Apple Prime-type package is key to shoring up Services growth, reiterates Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi,” Mangalindan writes. “‘To beat our current expectation for deceleration of overall Services revenues from 24% growth in 2018 to 16% in 2019, Apple will need to add mid-to-high single digits growth back to Services revenues through successful launch of the ‘Apple Prime’ bundle including original video that we expect to be rolled out this Spring/Summer’ Sacconachi wrote in a report published on Monday.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people!

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

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:
Apple plans star-studded March 25th event to unveil video and news subscription services – February 13, 2019
Apple to hold special media event on March 25th – February 12, 2019
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“It looks as though Apple will hold a special event next month unlike any it’s held in recent memory, according to multiple reports,” Jason Snell writes for Tom’s Guide. “At the center of the stage won’t be new Mac, iPhone, or iPad hardware, but a new collection of subscription services.”

“The rise of streaming services like Netflix and over-the-top TV services like YouTube TV, PlayStation Vue, and DirecTV Now suggest that we are in the midst of a shift from traditional cable and satellite TV to a world where all our video entertainment is streamed over the Internet,” Snell writes. “Apple’s plan is to take advantage of that in two ways: by creating its own content and by reselling premium channels offered by others.”

“Apple’s reportedly spent $1 billion or more on TV series and movies over the last year and a half, and next month we are going to get an idea of the scope of its programming plans. Apple can’t become Netflix overnight, but its offerings can probably blow past Starz or Epix and other lower-tier services with ease,” Snell writes. “It’s the addition of the news subscription service that’s convinced me that there has to be a larger story here. Apple’s adding a whole lot of separate subscription services, and I have a hard time believing every single one of them will be sold a la carte. More likely, Apple will create a bundle of services, offering a small discount in order to sell people the entire suite of offerings…”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Bring on “Apple Prime!”

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

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:
Apple analysts are bullish about rumored ‘Apple Prime’ media bundle – February 14, 2019
Apple plans star-studded March 25th event to unveil video and news subscription services – February 13, 2019
Apple to hold special media event on March 25th – February 12, 2019
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“Apple Inc. is shaking up leadership and reordering priorities across its services, artificial intelligence, hardware and retail divisions as it works to reduce the company’s reliance on iPhone sales.,” Tripp Mickle reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The changes, which can be traced back to last year, have included high-profile hires, noteworthy departures, meaningful promotions and consequential restructurings.They have rattled rank-and-file employees unaccustomed to frequent leadership changes and led Apple to put several projects on hold while new managers are given a chance to reassess priorities, according to people familiar with the matter.”

“The primary reasons for the shifts vary by division. But collectively, they reflect Apple’s efforts to transition from an iPhone-driven company into one where growth flows from services and potentially transformative technologies,” Mickle reports. “Leadership moves of the past few months include promoting artificial intelligence chief John Giannandrea to the executive team; replacing departing retail chief Angela Ahrendts with head of human resources Deirdre O’Brien; and pushing out top Siri voice-assistant executive Bill Stasior. Apple has also trimmed 200 staffers from its autonomous-vehicle project, and is redirecting much of the engineering resources in its services business, led by Eddy Cue, into efforts around Hollywood programming.”

“Apple has said it aims to pass 500 million paid subscriptions across its platform by 2020, up from 360 million now. To help reach the goal, Apple is spending more than $1 billion to create original shows this year starring Hollywood A-listers,” Mickle reports. “It has considered bundling video into a monthly subscription offering that would also include cloud storage, according to people familiar with the plans. The company also is in talks with major newspapers about offering a news service that would cost $10 a month. It has discussed bundling those services together into a single subscription along with iCloud storage for photos and files, a person familiar with the plan said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Good luck, everyone, and bring on a temptingly-priced “Apple Prime!”

MacDailyNews Note: Today is Washington’s Birthday in the U.S.A., a federal holiday and, as such, the U.S. markets are closed for the day. We will resume our normal posting schedule tomorrow.

Washington’s Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

SEE ALSO:
Apple’s March 25th event could bring the big bundle that beats Netflix – February 17, 2019
Apple analysts are bullish about rumored ‘Apple Prime’ media bundle – February 14, 2019
Apple plans star-studded March 25th event to unveil video and news subscription services – February 13, 2019
Apple to hold special media event on March 25th – February 12, 2019
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“Tim O’Shea, an analyst who covers the iPhone maker for Jefferies… estimated that if Apple’s video service had 250 million subscribers in 2023, it still would account for only about 5% of the company’s revenue that year — and wouldn’t make up for its declining smartphone sales,” Troy Wolverton writes for Business Insider. “By point of reference, after offering streaming video for 12 years, Netflix has 139 million subscribers.”

“To figure out the potential of the video service, which Apple is widely expected to launch next month, O’Shea estimated that Apple would charge customers $15 a month,” Wolverton writes. “If the service is extremely successful and attracts 250 million subscribers, it would yield $13.5 billion in revenue for Apple. That’s nothing to sneeze at. After all, Netflix’s total sales last year were $15.8 billion. But in the context of Apple, such a figure would be just a drop in the bucket. In fiscal 2018, the company posted revenue of $265 billion.”

“Apple has shown with its Apple Music service that it can grow such offerings relatively quickly… Apple Music has 50 million paid subscribers, a total it reached much quicker than the market leader, Spotify, he said,” Wolverton writes. “Apple’s smartphone sales accounted for $167 billion in sales last year, and the iPhone may be the biggest product business of any company ever, O’Shea said. Because it’s so huge, even a small percentage drop in its sales can more than wipe out big gains in other parts of Apple’s business.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Once the lengthening iPhone replacement cycle stabilizes, Apple will have a solid base of massive revenue that just happens as long as they can manage to keep iPhone fresh with regularity. Cough * Mac * cough. That coughed, even with some pronounced mismanagement on the Mac side of things over the past 5+ years, Apple still has a solid base of Mac revenue that just happens (to just could’ve been and should be larger today than it is).

As for the $15/month estimate, we’ll wait and see what types of bundles, if any, that Apple comes up with. We’d sign up for a decently-priced bundle that includes Apple Music, Apple Video, and iCloud storage in a heartbeat.

SEE ALSO:
Apple’s March 25th event could bring the big bundle that beats Netflix – February 17, 2019
Apple analysts are bullish about rumored ‘Apple Prime’ media bundle – February 14, 2019
Apple plans star-studded March 25th event to unveil video and news subscription services – February 13, 2019
Apple to hold special media event on March 25th – February 12, 2019
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

“‘This is a pivotal shift for Apple and in our opinion the biggest strategic move since the iPhone was unveiled in 2007,’ said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. ‘There is massive pressure on Cook and Apple to deliver on services, with streaming content a potential linchpin of growth,” Gurman reports.

“On Monday, Apple will add video and news subscriptions, and could unveil a similar offering for credit cards. The company may also discuss combining all these digital services into a single bundle, similar to Amazon’s popular Prime program. Apple already has discussed the possibility of discounts for users who subscribe to more than one service,” Gurman reports. “Apple is also working on a premium games subscription for its App Store and discussing it with potential partners, according to people with knowledge of the plans. This service won’t take on new cloud-based streaming offerings like Google Stadia. Instead, it will focus on iPhones and iPads and bundle together paid games from different developers that consumers can access for a monthly fee.”

Apple TV 4K and its Siri Remote

MacDailyNews Take: Bring on “Apple Prime!”

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

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 is planning to give billions of dollars in video content away for free – March 18, 2019
Apple analysts are bullish about rumored ‘Apple Prime’ media bundle – February 14, 2019
Apple plans star-studded March 25th event to unveil video and news subscription services – February 13, 2019
Apple to hold special media event on March 25th – February 12, 2019
Imagining an Apple All Access plan: What if Apple offered iPhone, iCloud, Apple Music, and more all for a single monthly fee? – August 29, 2018
A bundled media subscription would be good news for Apple users and for Apple itself – June 29, 2018
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

Big picture, this strategy aligns with our thesis that Services, not devices, hold the key to Apple revenue and profitability growth over the next 5 years. However, the lack of specifics around pricing and timing limits us from raising estimates today. We still believe Apple is likely to bundle hardware/services and/or multiple services over time, with our September 2018 analysis suggesting Apple could generate $22-37B in revenue by 2025 for an Apple Media bundle alone, up from $3.8B in 2018. While we keep our estimates unchanged today, we mark our sum-of-the-parts (SoTP) driven price target to market, which captures the re-rating of Hardware and Services peers over the last 2 months, resulting in our new price target. — Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty

P.E.D. also offers up 74 seconds of Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster:

Find out what the rest of the Apple analysts are saying after the compnay’s “It’s Show Time” event here.

MacDailyNews Take: In general, the analysts like Apple’s new services, but they, like the rest of us, would very much like to see the prices, launch dates and possible bundle offers (“Apple Prime”) before going further.

David Gewirtz for ZDNet:

I have never, not once, been able to have an Apple Store round trip take less than four hours. And that’s on a good day. When my wife and I went to buy our iPhone 6s Pluses a few years ago, the trip took three hours on the road plus four hours in the store due to the wait and fussing time at the store… When we went to get replacement batteries for our phones, it took one round trip of five hours to replace the batteries, and then another round trip of about five hours to replace the phone they broke when they tried to replace the battery…

This goes to Jason Perlow’s Apple Select plan, for all-you-can-geek Apple products. Last week, he advocated that Apple adopt a monthly charge that incorporates all their services, along with a regularly refreshed phone. In a sense, this is the Apple Upgrade program with movies, news, and storage tacked onto it. Having a Prime-like service for Apple services does make sense. But expecting customers to make a regular pilgrimage to the Apple Store to swap phones is not realistic because it is not necessarily something everyone is going to want to (or be able to) do.

Apple has to make the iPhone upgrade process painless. They need to make it work entirely online, and they need to make sure that you’re never, ever without your phone… Failure to do that will result in some number of customers avoiding the Apple Store, and more finding themselves in Apple Store hell. It’s not an enjoyable experience.

MacDailyNews Take: Generally, if the Apple Store is close by, you’re in a populated area, meaning traffic to and from the store can be an issue. Apple doesn’t place stores in low-traffic areas. The reasoning is obvious, but it doesn’t help the customer any. Plus, once you get into the Apple Store, it’s usually crowded. If it’s a mall store, you’ve got a three-ring circus of people trying to do iPhone screen repairs, purchase products, Today at Apple classes, diagnose issues, trying on Watches, etc. It’s nothing like what it once was (and will never be again), a mecca for Apple, mostly Mac, fans with some iPods around for fun. Those days are over.

If Apple were to somehow make the iPhone upgrade process easy and painless with customers always having a working iPhone, removing the Apple Store pain point, they’d likely sell more iPhones, more often (hello, shorter replacement cycle), and iPhone customers would be even happier than they already are!

Ben Thompson thinks (and we agree with him) that biggest news from yesterday’s event was that Apple cut prices.

Ben Thompson for Stratechery:

It was easy to miss, given that the iPhone 11 Pro, the successor to the iPhone X and then Xs, hasn’t changed in price: it still starts at $999 ($1,099 for the larger model), and tops out at $1,449); if you want the best you are going to pay for it… [But], the price cuts, which happened further down the line — were so important…

The success of the iPhone XR strongly suggests that there is more elasticity in the iPhone market than ever before. Apple also cut prices in China earlier this year with great success… the final step in Apple truly becoming a Services company, not just in its financial results but also in its strategic thinking [is[ ore phones sold, no matter their price point, means more Services revenue in the long run (and Wearables revenue too).

It does feel like there is one more shoe yet to drop when it comes to Apple’s strategic shift. The fact that Apple is bundling a for-pay service (Apple TV+) with a product purchase is interesting, but what if Apple started included products with paid subscriptions?

MacDailyNews Take: 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!

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

If you suspect Apple is heading toward offering us a single all-in subscription package, the company’s moves this week regarding Apple TV+ and, more quietly, AppleCare+, make a lot of sense.

William Gallagher for AppleInsider:

Perhaps Apple itself is looking to a future where subscriptions are the norm. If Apple has thought of this, then the company’s moves this week look very much like it putting some more parts of the jigsaw in place… Apple, at some point, is going to offer you an all-in-one subscription fee. It will be a single-price, probably family-wide, price that gets you all of Apple’s services —and an iPhone.

Right after the September 10 keynote, Apple introduced a new AppleCare+ which within certain constraints, lets you extend your regular AppleCare insurance. And, you guessed it, AppleCare+ is a monthly fee… We’d be surprised if the top end AppleCare+ monthly fee didn’t magically happen to be $9.99, which would make this fantasy all-in subscription [a top of the range iPhone and also for every Apple service] add up to $106.98.

However, we also wouldn’t be in the slightest bit surprised if Apple, at least at first, offered all of this for a straight $100 per month.

MacDailyNews Take: Well, Apple loves nines, so $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.

Hey, Android fake iPhone peddlers: Checkmate!

As we wrote this morning, “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!”

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld:

With iPhone 11 ordering beginning today, the world may be waiting to join the iPhone Upgrade Program, and it is becoming clear Apple is slowly but inexorably moving to a business model in which its products and services are available for a monthly fee…

Apple gets an income it can predict. You get access for a price you can (I hope) more easily afford, and the platform remains unfragmented.

That’s a win/win.

MacDailyNews Take: As we just wrote on Wednesday here and here:

$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!

Anna Nicolaou and Patrick McGee for Financial Times:

Apple’s hopes of creating a super-bundle of media content for one flat monthly fee have run into early opposition, with some record labels nervous about the prospect of offering their music for a lower price. 

The iPhone maker has recently approached the big music companies about bundling together Apple Music and Apple’s upcoming television service, but the two sides have not yet discussed a pricing formula, said people familiar with the negotiations. Talks are at an early stage, they added… In recent years, the success of streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music has helped a recovery in the music business. But executives fear that margins may be hurt if Apple undercuts the $10 monthly price that Spotify, Apple Music and others charge.

Analysts have suggested that Apple would eventually create a super-bundle for the 420m people who subscribed to some Apple service in the past year. Such a bundle could have several tiers, including apps such as News+, which aggregates magazine and newspaper content for $10 a month, or Arcade, which offers more than 100 games for $5 a month.

MacDailyNews Take: Yes, please! We’ve long been hoping for some sort of an “Apple Prime” bundle option or options that will reward those of us who have multiple Apple subscriptions (Apple Music, Apple News+, iCloud storage, etc.).

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

As we wrote last month here and here:

$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!

Apple could crush Netflix, Spotify, and Disney+ with a $25 per month all-inclusive plan, contends Jason Aten for Inc.:

There’s no doubt that Apple is playing to win. The company has already said that it will offer a year of Apple TV+ for free for anyone who buys a new iPhone, Mac, or iPad this fall, meaning it could easily have 80-100 million subscribers by the new year. That number would put it far ahead of every other service — even though most of those users won’t actually generate revenue for the company until the following year…

There’s one thing it can do that would be a crushing blow to other companies including Netflix, Amazon, and Disney: an all-in-one subscription.

Here’s the killer bundle: TV+, Music, News+, Arcade, iCloud for one monthly price. Right now, those services cost more than $30, depending on how much iCloud storage you choose, but imagine getting them all for, say, $25 a month. Call it Apple+… Not only does Apple gain incremental revenue with this idea, but it can do so at the expense of its competitors. It’s not only Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+ that should be worried. A plan like this could be entice some people to cancel other services.

In that case, I’d be very worried if I were Spotify.

MacDailyNews Take: Do it, Apple! Spotify, especially, for all of their whining as Apple Music overtakes them, deserves to be ground into a fine paste.

Of course, an Apple bundle is something we’ve been wanting for years:

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

Yes, please! We’ve long been hoping for some sort of an “Apple Prime” bundle option or options that will reward those of us who have multiple Apple subscriptions (Apple Music, Apple News+, iCloud storage, etc.). — MacDailyNews, October 7, 2019

As we wrote last month here and here:

$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!

Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that Apple is working on new ways to pay for iPhones on a monthly basis during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday.

Kif Leswing for CNBC:

Apple investors have speculated for years about the possibility that Apple could sell hardware, like the iPhone, on a subscription basis… Under the argument for an iPhone subscription, which some people call Apple Prime after the Amazon program of the same name, Apple would bundle hardware upgrades with services like iCloud storage or Apple TV+ content and hardware for a single monthly fee.

During Wednesday’s earnings call, when analyst Toni Sacconagi asked about the idea of a prime subscription, Apple CEO Tim Cook did not shoot down the idea. In fact, he suggested that something like it was already in effect. ″In terms of hardware as a service or as a bundle, if you will, there are customers today that essentially view the hardware like that because they’re on upgrade plans and so forth,” Cook said during an earnings call. “So to some degree that exists today.”

There’s also a new program, announced by Cook on Wednesday’s earnings call, that will give people who use the Goldman Sachs Apple Card free interest for 24 months on iPhone purchases… “We’re cognizant that there are lots of users out there that want a sort of a recurring payment like that and the receipt of new products on some sort of standard kind of basis and we’re committed to make that easier to do than perhaps it is today,” Cook said.

MacDailyNews Take: Of course, an Apple bundle is something we’ve been wanting for years:

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

Yes, please! We’ve long been hoping for some sort of an “Apple Prime” bundle option or options that will reward those of us who have multiple Apple subscriptions (Apple Music, Apple News+, iCloud storage, etc.). — MacDailyNews, October 7, 2019

As we wrote last month here and here:

$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!

Apple on Wednesday introduced a new program that will allow Apple Card users to finance their iPhone purchases for 24 months, without paying interest plus buyers get 3% back on purchases…

Sarah Perez for TechCrunch:

It’s not quite an “Apple Prime” subscription, but it’s compelling… The program aims to appeal to consumers who frequently upgrade their iPhone to the latest model, but often turn to their carrier to finance those purchases.

With the Goldman Sachs Apple Card, those iPhone users will have another option — and one without the associated interest and fees of a traditional credit card purchase, Apple says. In addition, the Apple Card offers 3% back on purchases from Apple, which further sweetens the deal.

The program helps to lay the groundwork for what some believe may eventually become a larger subscription product for Apple, or a so-called “Apple Prime”… Already, Apple has begun to experiment with subscription bundles. This week, for example, it announced a bundle for students that includes Apple Music and Apple TV+ for the same price as a student Apple Music subscription alone ($5/mo). And in a sense, Apple is already bundling its new Apple TV+ streaming service with its hardware, as it’s giving the service away for free with a new device purchase in its first year.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple Card is a great way for those who only upgrade their iPhones ever 24 months to buy/finance their purchases, interest-free and with a 3% cash back bonus!

Gerry Smith and Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

Apple Inc. is considering bundling its paid internet services, including News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Music, as soon as 2020, in a bid to gain more subscribers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The latest sign of this strategy is a provision that Apple included in deals with publishers that lets the iPhone maker bundle the News+ subscription service with other paid digital offerings, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private deals… Bundling these offerings could attract more subscribers, as Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime service has done. Apple is already experimenting with this kind of approach. It recently began offering a free Apple TV+ subscription to students who are Apple Music subscribers.

MacDailyNews Take: Bring on Apple Prime! This sort of thing, if Apple can work out the deals and they’re attractive enough to consumers, will only help Apple’s individual services gain subscribers.

Apple News+ has struggled to add subscribers since first week of launch in March, sources say.

Alex Sherman for CNBC:

Since Apple launched its paid news app, Apple News+, in March and signed on 200,000 subscribers in 48 hours, the company has struggled to add customers, according to people familiar with the matter.

While Apple doesn’t reveal the exact numbers of News+ subscribers to publishers, the figure hasn’t increased materially from its first couple days, said the people, who asked not to be named because those details are confidential.

Subscriber growth for Apple News+ has disappointed several publishers who thought the product would bring in more revenue, the people said.

In recent months, Apple hasn’t put much marketing heft behind Apple News+, a premium product to regular Apple News, which curates top stories for iPhone and iPad owners.

MacDailyNews Take: Hence the need for Apple News+ to be bundled as soon as possible.

If Apple can work out the deals and they’re attractive enough to consumers, will only help Apple’s individual services gain subscribers. — MacDailyNews, November 14, 2019

“Conde Nast CEO Roger Lynch told the audience of Recode’s Code Media conference that he hadn’t made up his mind yet about Apple’s news subscription service,” Janko Roettgers writes for Variety:

“I think the jury is out,” Lynch said, adding that he had inherited Conde Nast’s deal with Apple from his predecessor. “I hope Apple News Plus is wildly successful,” Lynch said. “Whether it’s good for publishers like us or not is to be determined.”

The service offers consumers access to hundreds of magazines and newspapers for around $10 a month. The service signed up 200,000 paying subscribers within 48 hours after its launch, but CNBC recently reported that the company has been struggling to expand its audience beyond those early numbers.

He declined to comment on specifics of Conde Nast’s deal with Apple, but suggested that the company ultimately could sever ties with Apple if News Plus wasn’t working out. “Over time, we have options,” Lynch said.

MacDailyNews Take: Bring on Apple Prime! A bundle like that, if Apple can work out the deals and they’re attractive enough to consumers, will only help Apple’s individual services like Apple News+ to gain subscribers.

Apple News+ was never going to work as a stand-alone subscription offering, M.G. Siegler writes for 500ish. What needs to happen is obvious: Apple needs to bundle Apple News+ into an “Apple Prime” offering.

Part of the problem is counterintuitive. If anything, News+ is too good of a deal. There is simply too much content to consume for too low of a price that it’s a weird value equation in most peoples’ heads. The game is actually zero sum. The game is life and the metric is time. None of us have enough of it. But in the era of streaming TV (not to mention music and games and apps and everything else), we really don’t have enough of it…

So, what to do? It’s so obvious that it’s already rumored. Make News+ a part of an Apple bundle. Yes, yes, “Apple Prime” as it were. Flip the script so that News+ isn’t yet another cognitive load on us. Something that may be a good deal but will I really have time for that? To: oh wow, this is included in what I already pay for? Awesome.

MacDailyNews Take: Yup.

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

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2019

Hopefully, some sort of bundle option will also be available for us all to be able to the combine Apple services we want for a single fee, lower than the cost of subscribing to them à la carte. — MacDailyNews, March 25, 2019

As we wrote last September here and here:

$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!

The post Apple needs to bundle Apple News+ appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Here’s what’s wrong with Apple News+: It may actually be too good of a deal. It offers so much for the price that subscribers find it difficult to find the time to consume even a small portion of what Apple News+ offers. It’s easier to simply cancel and stop paying the subscription fee for something you feel you’re wasting as there simply isn’t enough time in the day.

Kirk McElhearn for Kirkville:

$10 a month seems too much to me to have access to a number of publications that I read only occasionally at best; I simply don’t have the time to read all those magazines. Back when I subscribed to more print publications, I ended up with stacks of them that I tried to “get through” every couple of months.

But Apple keeps trying to interest me in Apple News+, and I don’t blame them. But I do blame them for what they present to tempt me… At the top of the [For You in News+] section is an article about cameras, and this makes sense: I follow a couple of photography channels in the app. But below that, there are four other suggestions, none of which are “based on what I read.” I don’t watch birds, I don’t care much about houses and homes, I have no interest in advertising, and I don’t have diabetes. I don’t know why the algorithm is this broken, but it’s broken.

MacDailyNews Take: Beyond the very real problem of the recommendation algorithm not working well, what’s wrong with Apple News+ is that nobody wants to pay for what seems, in the end, like homework; yet another thing to keep up with. Apple News+ ends up guilting you. It’s like email. It just piles up and piles up, another thing constantly demanding to be dealt with. Nobody wants to pay for that. That’s why Apple should bundle it with other services (and fix the broken recommendation engine).

The post Here’s what’s wrong with Apple News+ appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple has signed multi-year licensing deals with major music labels like Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Music in recent months, the Financial Times reports, citing four people familiar with the matter.

Reuters reports:

The new contracts, however, do not include an agreement to bundle Apple Music with the its television service, the report said, adding that a “super bundle” maybe months away.

MacDailyNews Take: We really want Apple to introduce an “Apple Prime” bundle that will take the pressure off the ailing Apple News+ to grab subscribers on its own while also helping boost Apple Services even further while offering users of multiple Apple services a deal for doing so!

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer because their original content sounds like it will be better and Apple Music + Apple News/Texture are unmatched. If they rolled some iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! — MacDailyNews, February 14, 2020

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

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

The post Apple inks multi-year deals with major music labels appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Many Apple investors still underestimate the growth potential of services, a Wall Street analyst says. Apple Services could be worth $100 billion annually by 2024, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said in a note to clients Thursday.

Patrick Seitz for Investor’s Business Daily:

“The potential for new offerings to be an accelerant to services growth remains underappreciated,” Daryanani wrote.

Apple’s services revenue growth will be fueled by new offerings and higher average revenue per user, not a larger installed base of total users, Daryanani said. In contrast, services growth over the last five years was driven mostly by a larger installed base, he said.

“We see health care, cloud and advertisements as driving the next leg-up for growth,” Daryanani said.

“We think services can sustain a compound annual growth rate of about 19% through fiscal 2024,” he said. That would translate to over $100 billion in services revenue by fiscal 2024… He sees Apple Music, Apple Pay, Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ as key growth drivers for the next five years.

MacDailyNews Take: No mention of Apple News+, unsurprisingly. If Apple can get some bundles going or, even better, an “Apple Prime” super bundle, that’ll boost underperforming services like News+ and Services overall that much more!

The post Apple Services could be worth $100 billion annually by 2024 appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple hit a 52-week high on June 5th to close at $331.50. The outperformance can in part be attributed to Apple’s robust Services business, including Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and Apple News+ continued to add users, content, and features, sparking talk of an “Apple Prime” bundle.

Zacks Equity Research:

Apple now has more than 515 million paid subscribers across its Services portfolio, up 35 million sequentially and 125 million year over year. The company expects to reach its target of 600 million paid subscriptions before the end of calendar 2020.

To further boost top-line growth from its services portfolio, Apple may start offering a service bundle that combines access to Apple Music, Apple TV+ and other services such as Apple Arcade, for a single monthly subscription cost, per The Street Report.

The latest iOS 13.5.5 internal files include references to a ‘bundle offer’ and ‘bundle subscription’ that didn’t exist in previous iOS versions.

We believe that Apple’s bundled services offering in an affordable package could also boost the appeal of its upcoming iPhone 12. Not only will Apple fans get a new iPhone, potentially with a 120Hz refresh rate display, more power, an upgraded camera system, they could also get access to load of services that could complement the iPhone 12 models when they arrive by the end of the year.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer. If Apple rolled some meaningful iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people!

As soon as Apple launches their original content video service, an “Apple Prime” will make even more sense. — MacDailyNews, August 29, 2018

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

The post Apple’s iOS 13.5.5 beta hints at ‘Apple Prime’ services bundle appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple’s streaming service started with a dearth of content and programming, even though the Apple TV+ library has more than doubled since the service’s launch last fall. When trial subscribers’ free year ends, how will Apple retain them, i.e., get them to sign up as paying subscribers?

Bundling.

The Entertainment Oracle for Seeking Alpha:

The problem is that Apple needs something to make up for those “samplers” shuffling off, and it needs something that will be a long-term fix versus a one-year patch. We started seeing that in recent weeks, as Apple has reportedly entered into talks to buy catalog content from other networks/studios, while also teaming with studios on producing new films and acquiring others – including the newly dated Greyhound, which was originally set up at Sony (SNE) (pre-COVID-19) and now will stream on the platform exclusively starting July 10th.

In general, it’s a smart strategy because it firmly shifts the focus of a larger overall part of the company versus just one element of it. On top of that, it shows Apple finally putting its weight into what was likely a pricey venture for investors overall.

It also stood to reason it was only half the story and more would be coming.

As it turns out, more is coming…

Apple has four key subscription services” Music, TV+, News and Arcade. Music and News cost $9.99 a month, while TV+ and Arcade are $4.99 a month, so basically, all four will run you $30 a month… Now though, say you bundle it and let’s pick $20 as an potential price point, so each service essentially costs $5, and for someone who (also like me) has two of the four already, there’s now an incentive to add to my bundle because I’m receiving more bang for my buck.

And for the record, if Apple offered a $20 bundle with the four services, it’s something I’d likely do – and I don’t think I’m alone.

MacDailyNews Take: Don’t forget about iCloud storage which we believe Apple will use to sweeten their “Apple Prime” deal to the point where it becomes a no-brainer for millions of Apple device users to happily sign up!

The post How Apple TV+ will retain subscribers as year-long free trials expire appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple is readying a series of bundles that will let customers subscribe to several of the company’s digital services at a lower monthly price, Bloomberg News reports, citing “people with knowledge of the effort.”

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

The bundles, dubbed “Apple One” inside the Cupertino, California-based technology giant, are planned to launch as early as October alongside the next iPhone line, the people said. The bundles are designed to encourage customers to subscribe to more Apple services, which will generate more recurring revenue.

There will be different tiers, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private plans. A basic package will include Apple Music and Apple TV+, while a more expensive variation will have those two services and the Apple Arcade gaming service. The next tier will add Apple News+, followed by a pricier bundle with extra iCloud storage for files and photos.

The goal is to offer groups of services at lower prices than would be charged if consumers subscribed to each offering individually… The initiative is a major bid by Apple to achieve the same loyalty that Amazon.com Inc. has won with its Prime program…

The company is also developing a new subscription for virtual fitness classes that can be used via an app for the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, the people said. That service will be offered in a higher-end bundle with the rest of Apple’s services. Codenamed “Seymour,” the workout package would rival virtual classes offered by companies including Peloton Interactive Inc. and Nike Inc., according to the people.

The offerings are designed to save consumers about $2 to upwards of $5 a month, depending on the package chosen. For example, if a family subscribes today to all of Apple’s major services plus the highest iCloud storage tier, that would cost about $45 a month. A new bundle could knock more than $5 off that.

MacDailyNews Take: This is a great idea, obviously:

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

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer. If Apple rolled some meaningful iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! – MacDailyNews, June 8, 2020

The post Apple preps ‘Apple One’ subscription bundles appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple plans to bundle access to CBS All Access and Showtime content at a discounted price for Apple TV+ subscribers, Bloomberg News reports, citing “people familiar with the plans.”

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

Starting as early as Monday, Apple TV+ subscribers will be able to access both the CBS and Showtime channels in Apple’s TV app for $9.99 per month combined. CBS All Access and Showtime normally cost $9.99 and $10.99 per month respectively, so the deal would be a significant savings.

Later this year, the company plans to launch a push into services bundles for all of its major offerings with an offering dubbed “Apple One,” Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

MacDailyNews Take: This will certainly spur subscriptions for the Apple TV+, CBS All Access, and Showtime streaming services!

The post Apple said to unveil $9.99/mo. Apple TV+, CBS All Access, and Showtime bundle next week appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Back in June, 9to5Mac discovered in the iOS 13.5 beta code that Apple was planning to bundle their services into a single subscription. With the latest update to the Apple Music app for Android, 9to5Google confirms that a unified “Apple One” subscription is one the way, perhaps as soon as Apple’s September 15th special event.

Last month, Bloomberg reported new details about this subscription bundle, such as the services that will be included. Reportedly, there may be a base bundle with just Apple TV+ and Apple Music as well as more premium bundles that include Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and more iCloud storage. At that time, the name “Apple One” was tossed around as a working name.

With the latest release of Apple Music, version 3.4.0 beta, we find that Apple may have settled on the name “Apple One,” alongside an internal codename “aristotle.” These new strings in the app all but confirm that Apple Music will be included with Apple One when it launches.

Notably, it seems you will not be able to manage or renew your Apple One subscription from the Android version of the Apple Music app. Instead, it seems you may need to use an iOS, macOS, or tvOS device to do it.

MacDailyNews Take: Since not all of Apple’s services are available on fragmandroid, it makes sense that you can only use devices where all of the Apple services that can be bundled to sign up for “Apple One.”

An Apple services bundle is a great idea, obviously:

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

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer. If Apple rolled some meaningful iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! – MacDailyNews, June 8, 2020

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Just a day after strings in Apple’s own Apple Music app for Android suggested that the company’s upcoming subscription bundle will indeed be called “Apple One,” Apple acted to register a number of domain names for the term.

Eric Slivka for MacRumors:

The move further indicates that Apple One is likely to be the marketing name for the bundles rather than a placeholder.

While Apple will likely not end up using many of the domain names, it is typical for the company to secure numerous variations in order to ensure that others do not have control of them.

Among the “Apple One” domain names registered by Apple yesterday:

• appleone.audio
• appleone.blog
• appleone.chat
• appleone.cloud
• appleone.club
• appleone.community
• appleone.film
• appleone.guide
• appleone.host
• appleone.space
• appleone.tech
• appleone.website

MacDailyNews Take: “Apple One” it is – and about time, too!

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

Apple could make a more compelling “Prime” bundle than even Amazon can offer. If Apple rolled some meaningful iCloud storage deal into it, it’d be tough to resist for many, many people! – MacDailyNews, June 8, 2020

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Apple is likely to offer Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch hardware subscriptions which will significantly increase Apple’s revenue and earnings…

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Apple is prepping a hardware subscription service for iPhones and other devices, Bloomberg News reports on Thursday citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg news:

The service would be Apple’s biggest push yet into automatically recurring sales, allowing users to subscribe to hardware for the first time — rather than just digital services. But the project is still in development, said the people, who asked not to identified because the initiative hasn’t been announced.

Apple is expected to implement hardware subscriptions by the end of 2022 or 2023.

MacDailyNews Take: Finally!

As we wrote in September 2019 here and here:

$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!

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Apple is working on a way to turn the iPhone into a recurring subscription service that could launch as soon as this year, according to Bloomberg News.

Samuel Axon for Ars Technica:

The new offering would fit neatly into Apple’s ongoing efforts to emphasize recurring subscription revenue.

Apple already offers the Prime-like Apple One subscription service that includes (depending on the specific package) Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, and so on. And there’s a program called the iPhone Upgrade Program that allows customers to pay a monthly fee for ongoing iPhone upgrades and a warranty.

We don’t know any details yet about how this new service would differ from that. But we could see it being a combination of the two… If the report is true, we might hear more when new flagship iPhones are announced this fall.

MacDailyNews Take: 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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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.

Alicia Stein for TheStreet:

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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Apple is reportedly working on hardware subscriptions for its devices, including the iPhone. Unlike installment plans, which Apple’s offered since 2015, the subscription would be more like a lease program with the option to upgrade devices periodically.

Adam Levy for The Motley Fool:

An iPhone subscription service could provide a great complement to Apple’s existing subscription services with significant potential to bundle the service and lock customers into the Apple ecosystem.

Two-thirds of iPhone owners already subscribe to iCloud in some form, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Half of iPhone users have an Apple Music subscription, and one-third have an Apple TV+ subscription.

Adding an iPhone subscription to the [Apple One] bundle could make perfect sense. Apple could offer significant savings to its most loyal customers — those who upgrade their iPhone extremely frequently. It could also make it easier for customers to afford the chance to use the most recent iPhone.

Instead of breaking up the cost of an iPhone into simple installments, Apple can instead charge customers close to the depreciation rate on a new iPhone over the course of the first year plus its cost to insure the device. That would theoretically be less than the installment cost of an iPhone purchase with the potential for more frequent trade-ins. The downside is the customer never actually owns the device. On the other hand, about one-third of iPhone purchasers trade in their old device when purchasing a new one.

MacDailyNews Take: Many Mac, iPhone, and iPad users would flock to this subscription services if Apple does indeed offer it – especially those who like to stay current on Apple’s latest and greatest devices. It would allow Apple to sell to most price-sensitive customers while generating even greater loyalty to the company’s products.

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Apple is preparing an iPhone hardware subscription service that will revolutionize the buying process, allowing users to essentially lease their iPhone and get a brand new model every year.

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

Apple’s rationale for doing this is very simple: making more money.

Right now, it’s only really diehard Apple fans that get new iPhones every year… The average iPhone user upgrades the device every three years. That’s actually a less frequent rate than about a decade ago, when carriers pushed subsidies and discounts every two years.

According to Counterpoint Research, the average iPhone sales price is about $825. That means Apple is generating a bit over $800 from the typical iPhone customer every three years.

That’s exactly why Apple is working on a subscription service. What if it could boost that $800 to north of $1,000 and get the old phone back to sell on the secondary market?

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last week, “Many Mac, iPhone, and iPad users would flock to this subscription services if Apple does indeed offer it – especially those who like to stay current on Apple’s latest and greatest devices. It would allow Apple to sell to most price-sensitive customers while generating even greater loyalty to the company’s products.”

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Apple is reportedly working on hardware subscriptions for its devices: Think iPhone rental. Unlike installment plans, which Apple has offered since 2015, the subscription would be more like a lease program with the option to upgrade devices periodically.

Adam Minter for Bloomberg Opinion:

In 2015, German entrepreneur Michael Cassau was in need of some gadgets for an apartment he was planning to occupy for a few months. Buying seemed wasteful, considering the cost of new devices and the environmental impact associated with manufacturing new ones.

But renting, an obvious option, simply wasn’t available. So Cassau founded Grover Group GMBh, a gadget rental company based in Berlin…

“The sustainability impact for us is aligned with profitability,” explained Thomas Antonioli, Grover’s CFO, in a call from Berlin a few days after announcing its latest fundraising round. “Because the longer we can keep a device in a rentable state, keep it in circulation, the better it is for us.”

The service is straightforward. A customer chooses the rental duration, and has the option along the way to purchase the device outright (around 10% do). Across the entire product line, the average rental duration is one year, and devices circulate for 3–4 years.

For phones, that’s a life cycle far longer than the duration that most first owners hold onto phones…

If, as seems likely, Apple launches the business, it will have a powerful internal motivation to design durable devices that can be rented and sold multiple times. Other technology companies, keen to capture their own piece of the emerging rental business, will need to compete on a similar basis.

MacDailyNews Take: 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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