Eh, no thanks for this Apple user. Not a fan of subscription services, and especially not Apple Music. A cheaper iPhone would be my choice (and it will be going forward.)
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Barclays Proposes Apple Could Lessen iPhone 8 Pricing Impact by Including Apple Music/iCloud Bundle
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No thanks, I don't want Apple music, just cut the price and everyone is happy.
iCloud storage is not really expensive if you just get the 50GB tier or if you chose to share a family plan, so I don't see how bundling it with the new iPhone would sound like a bargain to the average user.
It would make more sense to bundle AirPods, but they had supply constraints until last month so I don't know if it is a viable option, and again I'd rather pay less money for my iPhone and chose the accessory I need.
iCloud storage is not really expensive if you just get the 50GB tier or if you chose to share a family plan, so I don't see how bundling it with the new iPhone would sound like a bargain to the average user.
It would make more sense to bundle AirPods, but they had supply constraints until last month so I don't know if it is a viable option, and again I'd rather pay less money for my iPhone and chose the accessory I need.
This.
And exactly the reason why they wouldn't include AirPods, as some folks were positing. Analysts are analysts, not business people. More specifically, they don't have an intricate understanding of the Apple brand. They're taking the 36,000 foot macro economic view without considering the nuance between, say an Apple, and a Samsung.
They lack the sales and branding experience of executives at Apple and they aren't paid to consider knock-on effects. They seem to study things at surface level. And speaking of Apple, specifically, the company are known to sell quality at a premium price. They are not known for being generous in the tier their products sell at.
Giving 'extras' isn't what I would consider Apple's style, and risks establishing a dangerous precedent once you're seen as a 'bonus extras' company. No, price high and justify. They have the engineering and marketing prowess to pull that off. The competition right now are two years behind. Any extras they add in in a weak move strategically and demeans the work they've done.
As a consumer are extras great? Yes! But from a business standpoint, I can totally see why they - of all companies - would include absolutely nothing. They're known to be 'generous' only when it's absolutely needed and backlash is a real risk - i.e including a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter.
Considering analysts don't give information 'from the horse's mouth', I think they're basically kicking tyres.
Fixed that for ya since you left out 'rumored to be'.
Apple's going to charge what they think the market can bear. So far, Apple's historical pricing strategy says they know what their target market will pay (minus the original iPhone, but they were working from scratch there). Some complain while others just pay it. Even some of the complainers still pay. Apple really doesn't need justification for their pricing. They say buy it or don't. Someone else will.They needed a team for this?
Apple will sell every last phone they can make. So team: why do they need to include free stuff with this phone they will have no problem selling?
Good work, team.
Not enough. It's simply passed the tipping point for me but that's ok, there are options.
All those "cloud" services are basically useless, at least for me and where I roam. Mobile Internet connections are shaky at best, have capped volumes and when 2Mbit/s at home are the fastest you can get, then you couldn't care less for cloud storage anymore. Yeah, even my own mileage is different when I'm in the office and have 4 times 1 Gigabit/s Internet at my disposal, then I like using my Amazon cloud stuff. I just don't have that luxury on the road or at home -- that's where I need as much local storage as possible. So, no, cloud space alone isn't cutting it for me. I actually need both.
All that being said, dropping more than a grand for a phone - and it doesn't matter if it's the new Galaxy Note 8 or Apple's next generation iPhone - is far beyond of what I would be willing to spend on such a toy. If I want to spend a grand on a luxury item, I rather buy one of DataMancer's Sojourner keyboards - at least those things are unique pieces, and they are truly beautiful works of art:
https://datamancer.com/product/the-sojourner-keyboard/
Apple should not accept Barclays' proposal. As I noted on the other forum, Apple does need to increase the price of iPhone special edition as much as possible due to difficulties and higher cost productions and to control severe supply problems due to the strong demands which will definitely explode. All available upgrade programs should be frozen by all carriers and Apple to handle uncontrollable demand.
Leading up to Apple's September 12 media event, the exact price tag of the upcoming iPhone 8 has been one of the biggest question marks surrounding the smartphone. The latest rumors describe a premium device that will start at $999 (64GB) in the United States, then rise to $1,099 (256GB), and cap at $1,199 (512GB), although of course none of these price points or storage configurations have been confirmed.
Recently, a team of Barclays analysts including Mark Moskowitz have theorized one potential solution for the device's premium price tag: Apple could debut an iPhone 8 bundle that packs in a year's worth of Apple Music and a 200GB iCloud subscription into the cost of the smartphone (via Business Insider). In the U.S., one year of Apple Music costs around $120 at $10/month (although Apple sells gift cards that knock the annual price down to $100/year), while a 200GB monthly iCloud subscription runs at $2.99/month, equating to around $36 each year.
Taken from the cost of the alleged "cheapest" iPhone 8 at $1,000, users would actually be paying about $844 for the smartphone and $156 for the bundled services, which the Barclays analysts said would be "more palatable." Barclays' prediction is based on a survey of wireless service customers (see results chart below), which found that Apple "might" sell around 40.3 million standalone iPhone 8 devices, but with the Apple Music/iCloud bundle that statistic could jump to 64.4 million iPhone 8 units sold.
While a bundle like this would be a logical move by Apple, locking iPhone 8 customers into the company's ever-growing services ecosystem, Barclays' report is just a prediction and has not yet been corroborated by any other sources as a potential launch plan. In the past, Barclays has gotten close at reporting the facts about unreleased products, but has missed some details. In November 2016, Barclays Research analysts predicted three new iPads would come in March 2017, including refreshed 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch versions and an all-new bezel-free 10.9-inch model.
Only a new 9.7-inch iPad launched in March of this year, while a 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch iPad Pro debuted at Apple's WWDC event in June. Analysts at Barclays have made a handful of predictions that can't yet be rated for accuracy since they concern the iPhone 8, including an expected "limited quantity" September launch, the inclusion of a True Tone display, a Lightning to headphone jack adapter in the box, and faster charging thanks to a 10W power adapter with a USB-C connector and an integrated USB-C Power Delivery chip.
In a separate report today by DigiTimes, Taiwanese supply chain sources have corroborated many of the current rumors surrounding the iPhone 8's pre-order date and price range. Taiwan is said to be "included in the first group of markets" where the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and iPhone 7s Plus will be made available for pre-order, with customers in Taiwan reportedly able to place their pre-order on September 15, the sources said. This date makes sense when looking back at the past five years of iPhone launch history.
Like previous reports, DigiTimes cites iPhone 8 prices at $999, $1,099, and $1,199 levels, with storage capacities of 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB, respectively. Samsung's monopoly of the OLED supply chain has been rumored as the explanation behind these high iPhone 8 prices. As is typical with new iPhones, the iPhone 8's launch is expected to be riddled with shortages and shipping delays, and could even ship sometime after the LCD iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s models.
Fortunately, we're only four days away from Apple's September 12 event, where the company will reveal more information about the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus, 4K Apple TV, Apple Watch Series 3, and more.
Article Link: Barclays Proposes Apple Could Lessen iPhone 8 Pricing Impact by Including Apple Music/iCloud Bundle
The iPhone special edition should be treated as a special line not as regular iPhone product lines, which includes a different way to sell it.
Customers with excellent disposable income will be able to afford it outright and the number of these customers with excellent disposable incomes are sufficient enough for Apple to get the production costs covered and generate the targeted profit. No matter how high the high price is set, with the high popularity, Apple would achieve the targeted profit. It is a business organization , not charity organization.
The special edition is a special luxury item that should only be available to whoever can afford it as it is not needed or required to live (not a basic need) and not for entitlement either.
There should not be ways to cheapen the special edition price due to all difficulties and higher cost productions and to control severe supply problems due to the strong demands which will definitely explode. Apple Executives should have known this.
This "research" makes a rather crude assumption that the "adjusted pricing to consumer (due to bundle)" is equivalent to lower upfront pricing. There's lots of published marketing and consumer behavior research indicating that this assumption is incorrect. Indeed, the general consensus in research on purchasing decisions is that the stated value of the bundled services reduces the perceived purchase price only by a small fraction of it.
In other words, a $1000 phone with $200 in bundled services is not equal to an $800 phone as far as purchasing decisions go. Since the original survey used specific price points rather than informing customers that the lower price point is achieved by bundling a service (i.e. they asked "will you buy a new iPhone for $1000?" and "will you buy a new iPhone for $800?", not "will you buy a new iPhone for $1000 with $200 worth of bundled services"), the proposed 18% increase in intent to purchase is not an accurate estimate of the bundled services' effect on the intent to purchase. These guys get an F for their into methods class.
Will they include Airpods? No.
Will they include Apple Music? No.
Will they include iCloud Storage? No.
People are going to buy it regardless, Apple will not shy away from profiteering.
Will they include Apple Music? No.
Will they include iCloud Storage? No.
People are going to buy it regardless, Apple will not shy away from profiteering.
I'm quite happy with Groove music. I don't need to be forced to pay for a service I neither want nor will use.
Discounted bundles of two otherwise separate appropriately priced items that are designed to showcase how well they work together are fine. Forced bundles that don't offer a choice suck. Just ask anyone back in the day involved with Microsoft's anti-competitive bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. That didn't work out so good, did it? I predict Spotify and Pandora will quickly file a complaint and Apple would be forced to unbundle the AM service from the hardware purchase in short order.
Discounted bundles of two otherwise separate appropriately priced items that are designed to showcase how well they work together are fine. Forced bundles that don't offer a choice suck. Just ask anyone back in the day involved with Microsoft's anti-competitive bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. That didn't work out so good, did it? I predict Spotify and Pandora will quickly file a complaint and Apple would be forced to unbundle the AM service from the hardware purchase in short order.
This. Tim’s not a fan of giving anything for free, creating value for money, or pricing things fairly. You won’t get any hand outs under him.
Apple could absorb the cost of an iCloud plan, especially considering that this would create a future demand from these users to maintain a larger iCloud sizing after the deal ends, but Apple Music is a different story. This is not free for Apple to give away. The majority of the cost of Apple Music goes to the content owners.
It becomes free... obviously would make Apple Music more expensive for your family though, I currently have a free individual membership and had to leave my family membership to gain it.
Everytime i upgrade to a new Samsung I get more free Microsoft Onedrive storage added to my account as part of a deal they have with Samsung. Currently at 1.1TB
Just wait a couple weeks and the Note 8 will be discounted on Groupon. You'll be able to pick one up no problem.
Given that Apple continues to include 5GB of iCloud storage I can't see them bundling a 200GB subscription to justify the price increase for their new, shiny super-expensive handset.
I like using Apple Music (although it's not as great as it could be) but even having that included wouldn't sway me to spend more for a few improvements here and there.
I know we'll find out more Tuesday but the more rumours and speculation I read the more I think I'll stick to my 7 Plus!
I like using Apple Music (although it's not as great as it could be) but even having that included wouldn't sway me to spend more for a few improvements here and there.
I know we'll find out more Tuesday but the more rumours and speculation I read the more I think I'll stick to my 7 Plus!
iCloud and Apple Music bundled in? Fat chance but I'd love it if it were true... especially with that impending HomePod release and multiple HomePod purchase. Besides, didn't Apple pack in Apple Music with Sono's speakers last christmas? and didn;t we go from there being no storage to a free iCloud tier?
