Apple services have been wildly successful. They work well for Apple and its customers. In time, there will be many more.
Conceptually, Apple’s first service was AppleCare, though it doesn’t appear on Apple’s list of services. It was a very early seed of an idea such that you pay Apple money but don’t receive some kind of hardware.
Wildly Successful
By and by, we got iCloud storage—for a fee—at higher storage levels. The legacy services, I would say, are:
- AppleCare
- AppleCare+
- iCloud
- Apple Books
AppleCare is very profitable and sales people, at least in the past, have been pushed for a high “attach rate.”
The more modern services include:
- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- Apple News+
- Apple Pay
- Apple Card
And just launched or launching soon:
- Apple One
- Apple Fitness+
Dizzying Pace
If it seems like Apple is releasing services at a dizzying pace, you’re not alone. So what’s Apple’s motivation? It’s money. In the quarter ending June 27, 2020 Apple’s services revenue was just over US$13 billion. It’s over $46 billion annually. That services business alone would “place it in the top 70 of the Fortune 500 list of biggest public companies.” And revenue has been climbing fast. More services means more revenue and profits.
Unlike competing streaming TV subscriptions which can generate subscription fatigue, Apple services can be viewed as a pleasing, productive enhancement of one’s integrated Apple life. They complement each other rather than competing with each other. No wonder Apple has arrived at the notion of bundes.
Financial analysts love services because, according to Fortune:
Gross profit margin—the difference between sales and the cost of generating those sales—was about 64% for services last quarter, double the 32% gross profit margin for Apple devices, Apple reported last year.
Apple loves services for another reason. They work to retain customers. For example, Apple Pay and Apple Card only work with Apple products. Switching away from Apple hardware can mean a painful loss of secure, favored, well crafted services.
New services from Apple will continue unabated. If you feel overwhelmed, just remember to focus on what you really need and ignore the rest. Not all customers subscribe to all Apple services, so don’t feel left out.
Feel judicious.
I love how people come on to brag/justify their own quirky personal preferences, as if they are the norm and like anyone really cares. They care about what it means for them.
For a family, they are paying $15US for Music; if they share 2TB, $10. That’s $25 of the 30 that the total package cost right there. If anyone in the family finds any use for any other single service, they get everything else for free or for less with the sub. That’s a good deal.
Personally, I like the TV+ service, it has some good quality shows/movies. I actually love Ted Lasso. I enjoyed the Tom Hanks movie quite a bit. I’m still on my free year as well, and I expect I will extend my subscription once it comes due.
I have only watched the 1st episode of Ted Lasso, but it looks like it will be fun. Right now my wife and I are working our way through Little Voice and are enjoying it. Home Before Dark was excellent. I couldn’t get into See. We are looking forward to the new seasons of For All Mankind, and The Morning Show.
I didn’t think that I would want Music+, but I like it and haven’t bought music in a very long time.
Apple TV+ I love it and will continue it.
News+ Is a okay and I will also keep that. I cancelled subscriptions to some physical magazines because I read them in News+. The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper has a paywall on their website, but I can read it in News+, same for some other big newspapers.
ApplePay and AppleCard. Oh yeah, I use them a lot. I pay with AppleCard where I can, but not all places accept MasterCard so I need to use my bank card. Of course not all places have the terminals for it and I have to use my card or cash. I rarely use cash these days.
AppleFitness+ No thanks
AppleArcade No thanks.
<blockquote>Not all customers subscribe to all Apple services, so don’t feel left out.</blockquote>
I’ve mostly passed on them, the new ones especially. AppleCare is a must. It was different when I could fix my own Mac Pro. Now there’s nothing I could even open up.
iCloud is an essential service. I use it every day for multiple things. My only complaint is that they need more tiers. 200GB to 2 TB with nothing in between is absurd. I could use about 500GB. Paying $12CDN per month for storage when I don’t need 3/4 of it is just not something I’m prepared to do. Drop in a 1TB for $7/mo and I’m there with bells on.
AppleMusic: Pass. I have my source for streaming Classical. They know it, they love it, it’s all they do.
AppleTV+: We’ve had it since last November when we got a year for free. We haven’t turned it on in months. I’m dropping it.
Apple Arcade: Pass, so far. I’m still getting what I want for less by buying them one at a time.
AppleNews: Pass. I check the BBC and a couple of sites each day. I’m not a news junkie.
ApplePay: I’ve tried it a couple of years ago. It was a spectacular failure. Vendor issues. I may try it again, someday.
AppleCard; Not here, also see the ApplePay issue.
AppleFitness+; No
AppleOne: Not interested in the parts so no.
These services may work for others, but for me I’ve just let them go by.