Apple is getting ready to overload consumers with subscription services, and without a bundle, signing up for all of them won't be cheap.
The company is set to launch its Netflix competitor, Apple TV+, this fall, and a new report from Bloomberg suggests a $9.99 per month price point is being targeted. This is just one of a number of monthly services Apple is set to offer or already is, including one for music, one for news, and one for games, plus a monthly subscription for more iCloud space.
To put the ever-expanding collection of monthly services in perspective, a person signing up for Apple's music, news, TV and movies, and game services, as well as the 200GB iCloud storage option, would currently be spending about $38 a month, or $455 a year, although there is also a cheaper iCloud option. For comparison, you can get an iPhone 7 from Apple for $449 or a trade-in deal for an iPhone XR for $479.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Then again, Apple's "grand plan," NBC News notes, is to bundle these services together and "sell consumers on a full package," although details of this potential package haven't been revealed. Bloomberg speculates one version of this could be Apple tying its subscription services to its iPhone upgrade program.
These, of course, are just Apple's subscription services. For those who want to keep up on all the latest in TV and movies, the streaming market is about to be totally flooded with new streaming platforms from Disney, NBCUniversal, and WarnerMedia on the way. It seems inevitable that bundles will have to emerge for those consumers who can't possibly sign up for all of this, bringing them right back to the world of cable subscriptions they were trying so hard to escape in the first place.
