Apple's Services Category Set to Be the Company's Main Revenue Driver Over the Next Five Years

[44267547]

There is no way Apple could survive on services alone and not only because many of them don’t even work on other platforms. It’s also not what this article is saying. Revenue growth, not revenue.

I understand the article, however I disagree with you entirely. Apple's services by itself last year in a quarter accrued $7 billion in revenue. Even if Apple stopped selling hardware altogether today, they could continue services through selling services through products. Its Reported Apple has over $265 billion in the bank, thats worth more than the government and any bank combined, I’m inclined to believe they could survive if they wanted to off generated services through different branches.

 

[DNichter]

Besides iMessage can’t remember an apple service I’ve raved about.

iCloud and Apple Music work perfectly for me. For what it's worth.

 

[Michael Goff]

On the contrary. I'm looking close enough to notice the seams coming undone.

If I rolled my eyes any harder, they’d go flying out of my skull. If you’re looking for anything, it’s things to be negative about.

 

[otternonsense]

If I rolled my eyes any harder, they’d go flying out of my skull. If you’re looking for anything, it’s things to be negative about.

Instead of being glib, you can give me examples of the awesomeness you're defending.

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iCloud and Apple Music work perfectly for me. For what it's worth.

I'd only pick out iCloud from the list. No Apple Music (prefer Spotify), and I can't remember the last time I've used iMessage.

 

[Michael Goff]

Instead of being glib, you can give me examples.

They:
Continue to have the best ARM chip
Continue to have the best wearable
Continue to have the fastest growing music service in terms of raw numbers
Seem to have more songs on said streaming platform (Spotify boasts 30m+ whole Apple boasts over 40m)
Have the best 3D cameras on a phone
Have better cloud storage prices than Google, weirdly enough
Best truly wireless earbuds on the market
That reminds me, they also have the W1 and W2 chips

Those are just off the top of my head. They have issues, sure, it to say they have nothing to flaunt is wrong.

 

[jadot]

Apple services are, at best, subpar. We have all Apple hardware (Mac Pros, Minis, iPads, iPhone), but use a Roku for TV, and Echo for voice nonsense. Still use iTunes library for my music, but if they screw that up anymore, that could change quickly. Don't need a subscription for music, but if so would use Spotify.

I can feel the inertia of Steve Job's vision starting to lose its momentum.

I don't think Tim actually understands that to have real, robust ecosystem - you have to fill ALL the slots with excellence, not just a few. Only filling a few slots means the whole system can die. Then you are just left with separate devices and services. And only the hardware is good. Tim needs to get the boot - and soon!

Not sure you used 'inertia' correctly there. Good word, though.

 

[0029937]

Besides iMessage can’t remember an apple service I’ve raved about.

People rave about iMessage? To me it's terrible. Lately I've had message order be wonky(showing brand new messages a few spots higher in the conversation history. I can't use iMessage on my work Windows PC. Sending gif's to people through iMessages is a chore. As much as I hate Facebook, Messenger has always been to me what iMessage should have been. I also use and prefer Telegram for cross platform capabilities.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

More than fifty percent of retail stores have Apple Pay available but more than half of consumers don't know they even exist or if they did, don't know how to use it or work it into their iPhones. This is a fail on Apple's part simply because they have not done enough to market it or work with retailers to provide training to employees so that when I use my AW3 to buy groceries or food, I won't get that "How the hell did you do that?!" look from employees and people around me. Something that has been around for four years or so shouldn't be a mystery to a lot of iPhone owners.

 

[maine82]

On the contrary. I'm looking close enough to notice the seams coming undone.

it maybe time for you to move on to another platform before it's too late.

 

[otternonsense]

it maybe time for you to move on to another platform before it's too late.

Too late for whom/what? I cannot move away from the Mac because all the design programs I use are native to macOS. And I cannot fully move away from the iPhone because it's our company phone. For a long time I wouldn't even have imagined wanting to, but now I'm eagerly looking for alternatives.

 

[fairuz]

I'm not happy about this. When companies start making money off services that are based on their lower level platforms, their priorities get all out of wack.

I just argued with someone on another thread that Apple isn't going to shift to services due to incompetency, but maybe I was wrong.

 

[IJ Reilly]

it is through monetization of Apple's Services business that we see the company still generating mid single digit revenue growth

Wait, so this is supposed to be good?
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It’s always confused me why so many people who come to an Apple fan site have nothing good to say about Apple.

In fairness, they probably don't have anything good to say about anything.

 

[44267547]

When companies start making money off services that are based on their lower level platforms, their priorities get all out of whack.

I know you directly didn’t mention Apple, however; So you’re just assuming that Apple is going to lose priority because their services are on the rise? Considering their overall net worth and stock status, I wouldn’t say there priorities are anywhere near what your logic is.

 

[fairuz]

So they should start selling their hardware for less. It’s not an uncommon strategy; sell hardware at a loss to get more people into your ecosystem and buying into your services. It’s why Google gives Android and Chrome OS away for free.

Sell the next iPhone flagship at just $700 instead of $1000 and you’ll have more people signing up for Apple Music or iCloud subscriptions even if you up the price on those services. Make it easy to come through the door then milk people once they’re in!

Yeah, and I hate Google's approach. This is kinda the whole reason I use iOS.

 

[JGIGS]

It’s always confused me why so many people who come to an Apple fan site have nothing good to say about Apple.

Didn't used to be like that. Maybe it's because their products are no longer as dominant vs the competition as they used to be. Software bugs have increased dramatically, no longer focusing on proper useful software improvements, lets say grouped notifications, cleaned up springboard, and instead focusing on cute gimmicks (Animoji's) and just general delayed releases of new features. Oh and for fun not including a charging brick capable of a new fast charging feature? That's some bad nickel and diming after paying $1000 US on a phone.

Apple is well deserving of the criticism it's received of late. Unbiased tech fans can see this. Die hard Apple only fans will always have a hard time finding faults in things Apple does. I'm hoping more take their blinders off and make Apple more accountable.

I'm not saying Apple hardware and software are terrible both are still very good, but the software especially isn't as stable, intuitive refined and as current as it should be.

 

[fairuz]

It’s always confused me why so many people who come to an Apple fan site have nothing good to say about Apple.

Throw iOS 11 into a pit of lava, and I'll have plenty of good things to say about Apple.

 

[otternonsense]

Continue to have the best ARM chip
Have the best 3D cameras on a phone (???)
That reminds me, they also have the W1 and W2 chips

These are components. Not full products.

Continue to have the best wearable

Most popular =/= Best

Continue to have the fastest growing music service in terms of raw numbers
Seem to have more songs on said streaming platform (Spotify boasts 30m+ whole Apple boasts over 40m)

In the US perhaps. Not globally. Also, source?

Have better cloud storage prices than Google, weirdly enough

How is that possible when Google Drive offers 15GB for free and Apple only 5GB?!?

Best truly wireless earbuds on the market

Subjective. They still look stupid and sound basic.

How about:
MacBooks with useless emojibars, nerfed connectivity, wooden keyboards, pumpkin batteries and soldered everything
Macs that have not been updated in >4 years
Bug-ridden OS's with a new system flaw coming up almost weekly
An iPhone collection of 8 same-ish SKUs with a tradeoff for each unit, be it price, design or performance
1-2 decent iPad Pros with good hardware, poor software, and accessories that cannot justify them as the "computer replacements" Apple is babbling about
Dead links in the product ecosystem, like the Cinema Display, "replaced" by the fugly LG that doesn't even have proper magnetic shielding
A watch that by all intents and purposes is OK at best
A "smart" speaker that is not only confirmed dumb, it has the poorest connectivity options in the market (and leaves white marks on your furniture)

The list goes on and on.

 

[harriska2]

Maybe the Mac Mini and Mac Pro will just be a cloud service.

Dang that’s funny. If we don’t see desktop type hardware we won’t stay with the platform. There is no reason for us to do so.

 

[9081094]

What dude, you don't like the (services)? The (services) are the best part!

Define ‘best’ please. I often hear Tim Cook saying that word. But ‘best’ compared to what?

 

[Jimmy James]

Cue the Eddy.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I can’t really say either. I bought my 8 Plus outright. The way I see it, no matter how they cut it up or try to hide it, you always pay the full price in the end, so a $1000 phone is still a $1000 phone, which is significantly more than a $700 phone. I suppose a lot of people probably don’t think about the fact that even a little extra each month over the course of years can still be hundreds of dollars more.

I think this is accurate. When you’re told “oh, it’s only 10 bucks more a month,” your average consumer does not say “eek! $1,000 phone!”

 

[Michael Goff]

Didn't used to be like that. Maybe it's because their products are no longer as dominant vs the competition as they used to be. Software bugs have increased dramatically, no longer focusing on proper useful software improvements, lets say grouped notifications, cleaned up springboard, and instead focusing on cute gimmicks (Animoji's) and just general delayed releases of new features. Oh and for fun not including a charging brick capable of a new fast charging feature? That's some bad nickel and diming after paying $1000 US on a phone.


Apple is well deserving of the criticism it's received of late. Unbiased tech fans can see this. Die hard Apple only fans will always have a hard time finding faults in things Apple does. I'm hoping more take their blinders off and make Apple more accountable.


I'm not saying Apple hardware and software are terrible both are still very good, but the software especially isn't as stable, intuitive refined and as current as it should be.

I’m not even saying to not be critical. I can easily name a ton of problems I have with current generation products, not to mention some of the things that are barely current generation. But to have nothing good to say is beyond laughable and that’s my problem.

Throw iOS 11 into a pit of lava, and I'll have plenty of good things to say about Apple.

A bad software release doesn’t negate all of the good things they’re doing.

These are components. Not full products.


Having the best hardware is worth flaunting.


Most popular =/= Best



I’m not talking about the most popular. I’m talking about having an Os that is constantly improving as well as the most accurate heart rate sensor of any smart watch that has been tested. And, of course, they’re the only ones who seem to realize that women wear watches as well.


In the US perhaps. Not globally. Also, source?


No, worldwide their growth numbers are larger than Spotify, putting on two million in five weeks.


https://www.digitaltrends.com/music/apple-music-vs-spotify/


How is that possible when Google Drive offers 15GB for free and Apple only 5GB?!?


Google Drive is 10$ for 1TB and iCloud Drive is 10$ for 2TB.


Subjective. They still look stupid and sound basic.


Six hours of battery life with the charge time being 15 minutes for two hours of listen time is what I’m talking about. As well as the slim case that has another 24 hours.


How about:

MacBooks with useless emojibars, nerfed connectivity, wooden keyboards, pumpkin batteries and soldered everything

Macs that have not been updated in >4 years

Bug-ridden OS's with a new system flaw coming up almost weekly

An iPhone collection of 8 same-ish SKUs with a tradeoff for each unit, be it price, design or performance

1-2 decent iPad Pros with good hardware, poor software, and accessories that cannot justify them as the "computer replacements" Apple is babbling about

Dead links in the product ecosystem, like the Cinema Display, "replaced" by the fugly LG that doesn't even have proper magnetic shielding

I never said Apple had nothing to criticize. I just said they were doing some things right, and really well, something you seem incapable of being able to admit. Anything Apple does right seems to be meaningless to you because your pet problems haven’t been fixed. Get some perspective.

 

[kanki1985]

wonderful times indeed! emoji driving major revenue.. whoever thought of that! /s

 

[Baymowe335]

Haha, this is so apropos after I was just jeered for calling Apple a future services company.

 

[otternonsense]

I never said Apple had nothing to criticize. I just said they were doing some things right, and really well, something you seem incapable of being able to admit. Anything Apple does right seems to be meaningless to you because your pet problems haven’t been fixed. Get some perspective.

Let me repeat:
MacBooks with useless emojibars, nerfed connectivity, wooden keyboards, pumpkin batteries and soldered everything
Macs that have not been updated in >4 years
Bug-ridden OS's with a new system flaw coming up almost weekly
An iPhone collection of 8 same-ish SKUs with a tradeoff for each unit, be it price, design or performance
1-2 decent iPad Pros with good hardware, poor software, and accessories that cannot justify them as the "computer replacements" Apple is babbling about
Dead links in the product ecosystem, like the Cinema Display, "replaced" by the fugly LG that doesn't even have proper magnetic shielding
A watch that by all intents and purposes is OK at best
A "smart" speaker that is not only confirmed dumb, it has the poorest connectivity options in the market (and leaves white marks on your furniture)

That is not a collection of pet peeves. That, my friend, is a broken pipeline through and through.