Apple Store and AppleCare Employees to Receive Free Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ Starting January [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Update: MacRumors has obtained what appears to be a legitimate internal bulletin from Apple that indicates both Apple Store and AppleCare support employees from levels S1-S5 will be eligible to receive free access to Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ starting January 6. The bulletin does not mention Apple Music.

Original story follows.


At least some Apple Store employees will receive free access to Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade starting in January, according to 9to5Mac.

The report claims the perk will be limited to individual use by the employees themselves, so if they wanted to use Family Sharing for any of the services, they would have to pay for a subscription on their own.

It is unclear based on the report if every Apple Store employee will be offered this perk or if the perk will available globally.

Apple can benefit from offering this perk by having more of its employees gain first-hand experience with three of its major services, which can be useful when interacting with customers. It's unclear how long it will last.

Apple Store employees have been offered various perks over the years, such as 50 percent off the purchase of an Apple Watch in 2015.

Article Link: Apple Store and AppleCare Employees to Receive Free Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ Starting January [Updated]

 

[Unity451]

Looks like it's time for a part time job.

 

[henrod]

I have a drawer full of the free iPods I got as a store employee. Also the first iPhone. And years of free .Mac!

 

[gplusplus]

They do a good job of taking care of their employees. I have friends who are products of Apple’s system of doing things and they’re incredibly happy and successful.

 

[darkslide29]

I already spend too much time on MacRumors and can probably answer any customer question like I do with friends and family. It is sounding worthwhile to work there on the weekends to talk to people about Apple products, while getting these free perks and discounts.

 

[cardfan]

In other news McDonald’s employees eat free. Gotta give the grunts something.

 

[Rychiar]

Why? shoulda sold em. Stuffs all worth good money..

I have a drawer full of the free iPods I got as a store employee. Also the first iPhone. And years of free .Mac!

 

[boswald]

Good on Apple. Treat your employees like they’re valuable and get great, dependable service in return.

 

[Yumbo]

The report claims the perk will be limited to individual use by the employees themselves, so if they wanted to use Family Sharing for any of the services, they would have to pay for a subscription on their own.

Family Sharing is built in.

 

[now i see it]

That'll make the "subscriber" count just that more impressive

 

[sinsin07]

Dag, it would seem that if you want your front line people to support products well, you would have done this awhile ago.
Should have included Apple News...gotta get those sub numbers up...

 

[lolkthxbai]

Family Sharing is built in.

If you try to turn on Family Sharing it’ll prompt you to upgrade your subscription to a Consumer Tier. If you’re already on a Apple Music Family Plan it’ll prompt you to switch to the Individual Plan.

 

[tbayrgs]

Dag, it would seem that if you want your front line people to support products well, you would have done this awhile ago.
Should have included Apple News...gotta get those sub numbers up...

Agreed on the first part—the cost to Apple is minuscule vs. what it would cost to provide their employees with physical hardware.

And with an Apple employee in the family, I can confirm it does in fact include Apple Music, but only an individual subscription.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I already spend too much time on MacRumors and can probably answer any customer question like I do with friends and family. It is sounding worthwhile to work there on the weekends to talk to people about Apple products, while getting these free perks and discounts.

It's about the "peerkkkssss"

Just pray you're not this guy who gets a call like this:

 

[hipnetic]

Employees are probably thinking, "Gee thanks." It's like getting a subscription to the "Jelly of the Month" club.

Also, this is a great way for Apple to artificially boost their Apple TV+ and Arcade subscription numbers.

 

[GregJohn]

likely most of the employees already are subscribed lol but I think its a good idea, makes sense and if someone wasn't subscribed they can now know more about the service they are promoting haha

 

[PickUrPoison]

Employees are probably thinking, "Gee thanks." It's like getting a subscription to the "Jelly of the Month" club.

Also, this is a great way for Apple to artificially boost their Apple TV+ and Arcade subscription numbers.

Apple is unlikely to disclose any numbers, and even if they did, it would probably be only for paids but I guess we’ll find out in a future earnings calls 🤷‍♂️

I don’t really see a reason to be concerned but ymmv.

In any case I t’s amusing to see posters project their own contempt for Apple onto their employees. I suppose it could be that employees might be upset with this freebie and might look a gift horse in the mouth scornfully, but I’m skeptical.

 

[Plett]

The only thing that surprises me is that they didn't already have those offerings as perks.

 

[predation]

Get employees acquainted with these services and up sell.

 

[d21mike]

I really enjoy my RING products. I had a question about the RING App. My son has a item on his that I do not have and we could not figure out why. So I called support (which is normally good). The Rep said she does NOT have the App and the simulator was down and she said no one knew the answer. My point is employees should use the products the support. Give them a free camera for the house so they use the product. For sure Apple is doing the right thing here.

 

[dukebound85]

Looks like it's time for a part time job.

That 15 bucks a month breaks the bank!

 

[Strelok]

That'll make the "subscriber" count just that more impressive

They don’t report specific numbers anymore, only revenue/profit IIRC.

 

[vmistery]

Free stuff is always nice but limiting it to a personal sub seems a bit tight, at least allow the employee to pay the difference. Where I work our perks certainly seem a lot more generous than Apple!

 

[idrewuk]

What do these internal bulletins look like? Would love to see how Apple’s employee communications look... I think they use an app?

 

[Packers1958]

Pretty lame Christmas bonus.