Bloomberg: New Apple Services Show Slow Growth in First Few Quarters

[Baymowe335]

He’s just guessing like the rest of the analysts who have been wrong on AAPL.

Services continue to post mid teens growth and that’s after people said it was all AppleCare because of iPhone sales growth. Then the iPhone growth slowed and services still matched higher.

Apple doesn’t break out this information, so no one really knows. The only thing we do know for sure is that services are growing nicely and have been for years.

 

[now i see it]

Proof that every me-too unoriginal idea doesn't instantly turn into Gold Pressed Latium

 

[fumi2014]

A big problem for Apple Arcade and Apple News is the lack of good content. Developers and publishers simply will not tolerate Apple's ridiculous cut of their profits.

AppleTV +, Apple News, Apple Music and Apple Arcade will all be bundled as a single service for $20 before too long. Or else they will just disappear. There is just too much strong competition out there.

Apple TV+ needs a show the order of magnitude/popularity of Game Of Thrones at this point. And it needs it right now.

Maybe they could just buy Tenet? That could be a winner. It would cost Apple about 12 minutes of their daily profit. Small change.

Apple really does need the Services sector to be very successful for the decade going forward because global smart phone sales decline year on year. The market is utterly saturated.

I think that's why they've poured so much money in to it - although (arguably) it's produced nothing but lame, mediocre shows I wouldn't watch even if they were free.

 

[smaffei]

Apple News : Actually worked for a major newspaper when this was released. The paper didn't bite because of Apple's cut and the fact they believed it would cannibalize their pay website. No surprise it's failing.

Apple Arcade: The games are not a caliber that most people are willing to pay a subscription for. Get a cheap Xbox One and pay for Game Pass Ultimate if you are a gamer. Yes, it's $15 a month. But, for a gamer, the selection is awesome! Microsoft just hit 10 million subscribers in April. All this time and Apple still doesn't understand gamers. Anyone want to play some Pippin?

Apple TV+: Is anyone actually paying for it? Most people I know got it free when they bought a device. Get back to me when people start dropping those "paid" subscriptions in October-November.

Apple Card: Love it! Very interactive; helps me see my spending. Money back as Apple Cash. And, it's my lowest interest rate card at 10.99%. Definitely a win for me!

 

[mazz0]

Why would anyone pay for news in 2020? Apple Arcade had one good game “oceanhorn2” which I beat in the winter and had a lackluster ending. Apple TV+ doesn’t have enough content or enough stand out content. All those services are weak and should prob just be extras included with Apple Music, the one good service they have ...

I'm perfectly happy to pay for news, I just don't see the benefit of paying for News+ rather than subscribing to the Economist and the Guardian for example in their own apps/websites.

 

[scottct1]

I have AppleTV+ because I got a free year for buying a new iPhone. I have only watched two shows on it but I have not seen anything which floats my boat. I probably will not renew it when my year is up.

I tried Apple Arcade, I am not a gamer but my wife and kids are. They did not find games like they enjoy playing. My son is into multiplayer games, and my wife life games like Dining Dash. We canceled after our free trial.

I tried Apple Music, which in itself wasn't bad, but I have such a large music library of my own that I didn't find myself using it much. So I canceled that as well.

I tried Apple News+ and I liked it, but couldn't justify the cost. Most of the magazines I read that are a part of Apple News are also available to me for free from my Library's app.

 

[mazz0]

I see a lot of people post variations of this complaint about Apple Arcade and it doesn't make much sense if you're familiar with the gaming market. There aren't any subscription services that offer premium console or PC style games for $4.99 a month, so how could you expect Apple to provide that? People pay the equivalent of $4.99 a month just to have access to the online component or streaming component. The games themselves are extra and often cost the equivalent of a full year subscription to Apple Arcade for a single title.

Yeah, I know. I did also say "This may just be a problem with my own expectations/hopes for the service".

That said, "bigger and deeper than standard mobile freemium" doesn't have to mean "£40 AAA PC game" - there is a spectrum.

 

[MacBH928]

There is only so much a Apple can suck from the consumer,: tablet, phone, computer, news, music, tv, tv device, ear piece, gaming, dongles, wires, watch, credit card, sound speakers...


As for Amazon, I seriously don't know how they can for the price of $10 a month(Netflix subscription) can offer all these services including free shipping and discounts on products.
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I have AppleTV+ because I got a free year for buying a new iPhone. I have only watched two shows on it but I have not seen anything which floats my boat. I probably will not renew it when my year is up.

I tried Apple Arcade, I am not a gamer but my wife and kids are. They did not find games like they enjoy playing. My son is into multiplayer games, and my wife life games like Dining Dash. We canceled after our free trial.

I tried Apple Music, which in itself wasn't bad, but I have such a large music library of my own that I didn't find myself using it much. So I canceled that as well.

I tried Apple News+ and I liked it, but couldn't justify the cost. Most of the magazines I read that are a part of Apple News are also available to me for free from my Library's app.

Jack of all trades is master of none

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am not a big Apple services guy. I pay $1.00 a month for the 50GB iCloud storage. I use Apple TV+ because of the free first year. I have no current interest in Apple News+, nor am I a gamer.

I usually buy tv shows (and some movies) when they are on sale and stream my purchases.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Apple Services suck and I would never pay for them. NEVER. Not just because they aren't very good, but also because I don't want to give my money to their direction. They are so far out of touch with what people actually want with their arcade and video streaming services that it's quite unbelievable that these are actually Apple product services. 10 years ago I'd never imagine Apple to be this rubbish.

Think Different? Nah, think uninspiring, think maudlin, think blah.

Everybody in charge of these services needs firing and new people need to come in and revitalise them.

All of these services are a reflection of Tim Cook's tastes. It's always the way with every company, the flavour flows from the top. It's why most companies are completely incapable of producing beautiful devices, even though there are zillions of designers with exquisite taste, it's because the guy at the top overrides and dictates that the ugly design is the best one, as he is smart and great at running things, but has zero visual taste. At least Tim Cook has visual taste, and Steve Jobs wouldn't have chosen him if he didn't, but he has a narrow "liberalish" taste in all this services stuff.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

It also reminds me of the analysis of the iPod, iPhone, iPad etc for the first year or so. Eventually things picked up. Of course there was also MobileMe, .mac, etc so who knows which direction it will go. I think now Apple realizes the importance of services for recurring revenue so hopefully they continue to improve the offerings.

As others have noted, an "Apple Prime" would go along way to getting people to subscribe. I'm not a fan of Apple Music, but many people are, so a bundle would be a smart move. I'd subscribe for one thing and get Apple Music for free. Others the reverse.

Likewise, perhaps if Apple purchased Target, and added free shipping from Target, it would add value and really take completion to Amazon's own turf.

Yes but Apple had Steve Jobs during that time who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.

 

[smoking monkey]

This is purely anecdotal but judging by the reactions whenever something about Apple Services is posted on this site, it's overwhelmingly negative. For sure, peeps on here are more critical, but you'll always find staunch defenders of certain things, but when it comes to services they are extremely rare. Even for those that do like, for example, Apple Arcade it's more along the lines of, "yeah, it's alright, my kids don't mind it."

I've never seen so much disappointment about an Apple product/service before. Apple are just so far off the mark, they may as well have asked a 10 year old to curate them and it'd be more popular.

 

[Mr Lizard]

Apple TV+ is still free to most customers as it came bundled with a new device purchase. Investments in original content are in the billions, so it will be years until Apple gets an ROI on that. Netflix was barely above breakeven until 2017.

Arcade, who knows. Apple's changing strategy here suggests they are still figuring it out.

But Apple News+? The continued offering of free months suggests it's struggling. They just wouldn't do that if the subscriber base and income was where they wanted it to be.