Apple is reportedly readying not one but “a series of subscription bundles” that combine Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News, an upcoming new fitness service from the company, and possible other services, for a lower monthly price, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
From the report this morning:
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:
- Tier 1: Apple Music and Apple TV+
- Tier 2: Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade
- Tier 3: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and Apple News+
- Tier 4: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and iCloud storage
Each of these tiers will offer services at a lower price than would be charged if the customer subscribed to each offering individually. Specifically, you’d save from $2 to upwards of $5 per month, depending on your chosen tier.
These bundles will reportedly work with Apple’s Family Sharing feature, meaning up to six people could share a single subscription bundle. “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,” reads the report. “A new bundle could knock more than $5 off that.”
On top of that, a new Apple subscription for virtual fitness classes is coming to the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It will be reportedly included in a higher-end bundle with the rest of Apple’s services. Now, we already reported on Apple’s upcoming fitness app code-named “Seymour.”
With that in mind, the Bloomberg report added that the workout app and service would rival virtual classes offered by companies including Peloton Interactive and Nike.
iOS 14 apparently includes software support for the new services bundles:
The iPhone and iPad will suggest different packages to users based on which Apple apps and services they already use. This feature will come later this year as part of iOS 14, the next software update for Apple’s devices.
So, Apple One will be Apple’s Prime?
The initiative is a major bid by Apple to achieve the same loyalty that Amazon.com Inc. has won with its Prime program, which combines free shipping with video streaming and many other services for an annual or monthly fee.
But Apple isn’t stopping there:
At first, Apple doesn’t plan to integrate the bundles with services such as AppleCare support or monthly payment plans for hardware like the iPhone or Mac. In addition to the services bundles, Apple is planning new software and hardware bundles, including giving buyers of the Apple TV set-top box a free year of Apple Arcade. That would follow a free year of TV+ offered to those purchasing new Apple devices.
The Information in June 2018 claimed Apple wants to create a single subscription service that will offer original video programming, music and digital magazines.
Last November, Bloomberg said Apple was working on a services bundle due sometime in 2020. The Financial Times a month earlier ran a story claiming that record labels were opposing the company’s plan to create a super-bundle of media content.
In March 2019, Peter Kafka of Recode said Apple was planning to sell bundles of pay TV channels at a discount. In June 2020, code strings discovered in iOS 13.5.5 further indicated that Apple could be putting final pieces of the services bundle puzzle in place.
Would you be interested in an Apple One subscription?
Let us know what you think in the comments down below.