Apple offers a growing number of premium subscription services alongisde its devices, including Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage plans. Now it looks as though they are set to get cheaper if you sign up for a bundle deal.
As Bloomberg reports, "people with knowledge of the effort" have stated that Apple is planning a series of digital service bundles to launch alongside the iPhone 12 smartphones in October. The bundles are expected to be called "Apple One" and package together different services for one monthly cost, which is less than subscribing to each service separately.
The basic Apple One package is thought to include Apple Music and Apple TV+. Beyond that, the bundles will be tiered and add Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and iCloud storage options, with the monthly price increasing depending on how many service you opt for. The bundles are expected to be mainly focused on encouraging families to sign up and will embrace Apple's Family Sharing where up to six people can share access to a service.
Pricing has yet to be revealed, but the monthly savings are minimal, ranging from $2 to $5. We can therefore make a prediction based on how much the individual services cost. Apple Music is $9.99, Apple TV+ is $4.99, Apple Arcade is $4.99, Apple News+ is $9.99, and the cheapest iCloud storage option offers 50GB for $0.99, bringing the total monthly cost to $30.95. As that would class as a top tier Apple One bundle, it seems likely Apple will choose to offer it for $25 per month. I'd also bet the iCloud storage included would be bumped up to the next level, so 200GB. At the lowest tier, it looks as though you'd get Apple Music and Apple TV+ for $12.99 per month instead of $14.99.
Apple users will appreciate the lower price on services they may already subscribe to as well as the convenience of just having one subscription to manage. Apple is clearly hoping it will result in an uptick in revenue from new subscriptions and existing subscribers seeing the discount as an excuse to sign up for more of Apple's services.
It seems Apple may also use the bundles to introduce a new fitness service that's accessible via an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Internally the service is codenamed "Seymour" and it's expected to compete with virtual fitness class options provided by companies including Peloton and Nike. Clearly the Apple Watch would feature heavily in any marketing around such a service.
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