Apple to Introduce Subscription Bundles to Push More Services: Report

‘Apple One’ is reportedly coming as Apple’s new way to boost its services business. According to a report, the Cupertino-based giant is preparing a series of bundles, allegedly referred to as ‘Apple One’ that will let customers subscribe to several digital services at a comparatively low cumulative cost. Citing people familiar with the matter, the report also claims that the announcement regarding these bundles can be made as early as October alongside the launch of the next iPhone lineup.

Bloomberg reports that ‘Apple One’ bundles will help Apple push services adoption, generate revenue, and boost its services business that currently includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade gaming service, among others. This essentially means, for example, that those who are paying for Apple Music, Apple TV+ as well as Apple Arcade individually, can pay a lesser amount for all three services through an ‘Apple One’ bundle. The report suggests that there will be multiple bundles with the number of services varying in each bundle.

If we were to compare it with other companies, we can look at Amazon or Google. Amazon has its Prime membership programme that combines free shipping/early shipping, early access to online sales on Amazon.in, video streaming and Amazon Music for monthly subscription cost of Rs. 129 per month or Rs. 999 per year.

Similarly, Google bundles YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscription into one. Customers are paying Rs. 129 per month for the above mentioned subscription. They could opt YouTube Music Premium Subscription for Rs. 99 per month. Earlier, the bundle included Google Play Music subscription as well but now the service is being discontinued reportedly due to the success of YouTube Music.

Bloomberg also notes that Apple is also working on a feature in iOS 14 that will suggest different packages to users based on which Apple apps and services they use on their iPad or iPhone models. The company is also reportedly developing a new subscription for virtual fitness classes that is said to be offered in a higher-end bundle with the rest of Apple’s services. The new bundles are said to work with Apple’s Family Sharing system that provides access to a maximum of six people for each service. The announcement regarding these could be made during the October launch event.

WWDC 2020 had a lot of exciting announcements from Apple, but which are the best iOS 14 features for India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.