Following Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings announcement, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took some time to talk about the Apple TV+ bundle, and hinted that future bundles could be a possibility. Maybe.
Tim Cook isn’t ruling out the possibility that the company could roll out future hardware/services bundles at some point in the future. The chief executive was asked about the bundle of Apple TV+ with the purchase of a new Apple-branded device that can stream the upcoming video streaming service, and whether or not this is a tactic that Apple plans on employing in the future as well.
Cook’s response doesn’t rule anything out, even if it’s not an outright admission that it could be a possibility some day:
We look at each service and decide what’s best to do for it. I won’t rule out that we won’t see another opportunity in the future.
According to Cook, the company saw the current Apple TV+ bundle as a “good gift” for the customer who buys a supported device, adding that it gets the content on Apple TV+ in front of more eyeballs right out of the gate. That certainly goes beyond the standard 7-day free trial that is also being offered for Apple TV+, specifically for those who aren’t planning on buying a new Apple product.
To be eligible for the deal, you’ll need to have bought a new or refurbished Apple product that can stream Apple TV+ as of mid-September, 2019. So either an iPhone, an iPad, an Apple TV, an iPod touch, or a Mac.
This is not the only bundle that Apple is offering in relation to Apple TV+. It was recently announced that Apple Music student subscribers can actually get access to the video streaming service at no additional cost. So that’s a pretty nice bundle, too.
Bundles are definitely a good idea, and it will be interesting to see, one year from November 1, just how well that one is serving Apple. Of course, this is a deal that will continue into the foreseeable future, so it may be tough to get a real understanding of what Apple TV+’s churn rate is.
Of course, Apple’s quarterly earnings reports late next year should hopefully paint a pretty clear picture of that when the time comes.
Do you already qualify for Apple TV+’s first 12 months at no additional cost? Or do you plan on buying an eligible device soon?