3 ms·

Looking at this makes me wish companies lie like Apple didn’t get into services. They will do it because there is a lot of money to be made but it creates a lot

Looking at this makes me wish companies lie like Apple didn’t get into services. They will do it because there is a lot of money to be made but it creates a lot of incentive to force their services deeply into the OS and reduce openness. It would be much better for innovation if Apple produced good hardware and OS as a platform for others to deliver services and application software.

Synaesthesia 6y ago
One of the roles of their services division is to get customers for their hardware and keep them. Eg iMessage for iPhone, the App Store
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  That works both ways, I'm pretty sure the Apple TV only exists to sell entertainment services.
derefr 6y ago
"Services" doesn't solely mean "subscription services." Apple's cut of app-store app sales is "services" revenue; as are individual songs/TV shows/movies sold through iTunes. Nothing inherently wrong with those lines of business, IMHO.
kristiandupont 6y ago
Agreed. The fact that there is a little banner in my settings app that says "Apple Arcade 3 months available free" annoys me. In fact, it creeps me out. Obviously that little banner is easy to ignore and on its own it's no big deal, but it feels like a yellow flag like if a friend jokingly hints that they really need a glass of wine in the morning, and you know that their social circle is full of alcoholics.
- ragazzina 6y ago
  You have ads in your settings screen? Can you please share a screenshot? I've never seen anything similar and I can't find examples online. If this is coming, I am very disappointed.
  - mgliwka 6y ago
    Got the same: https://ibb.co/zr56sgp https://ibb.co/zr56sgp Edit: It appeared after I purchased a new MacBook. Seems like an Apple Arcade voucher was included with the purchase and it nags me to activate it.
ksec 6y ago
This has been my major concern since 2018. When it was clear their vision of "Service" Revenue is something different to what I had in mind. In 2014 I thought the Services Revenue Growth will be coming from bundling of iPhone + iCloud + AppleCare+ in subscription like services. Sort of like the current iPhone upgrade programme, with upsell of other things like Apple Music, Netflix or HBO where they get some sort of commissions. ( Similar to current App Store sign up commission ). Using something like Apple Credit Card ( that was long rumoured and somehow only launched in 2019 ) where Apple could afford to have revenue spread over a much longer period of time all while increases iPhone affordability. Think 36 Months instead of the usual 24 months. Apple has too much cash on hand and this delayed account receivable is something that could be used to Apple's advantage. Instead they went with AppleTV+, Apple News+ Apple Fitness+, Apple PodCast+, Apple Arcade, and bundling them into ONE all to dilute their $10+Billion Annual raw profits from having Google as default search engine. I mean what's next? "Apple Bank" because their Hardware features and customer data which Apple do collect so they can provide better Banking services? "Apple Insurance" because Apple Watch provides Data to Apple and Apple cant share to other for privacy reason? Apple Cars with special design U1 integration of whatever that only works with Apple Find My Network? And "Apple Taxi" once Apple figure out how to do LV5 AV? This is not Steves-Apple. This is very Tim Cook's Apple.

Synaesthesia 6y ago

One of the roles of their services division is to get customers for their hardware and keep them. Eg iMessage for iPhone, the App Store

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
That works both ways, I'm pretty sure the Apple TV only exists to sell entertainment services.

derefr 6y ago

"Services" doesn't solely mean "subscription services." Apple's cut of app-store app sales is "services" revenue; as are individual songs/TV shows/movies sold through iTunes. Nothing inherently wrong with those lines of business, IMHO.

kristiandupont 6y ago

Agreed. The fact that there is a little banner in my settings app that says "Apple Arcade 3 months available free" annoys me. In fact, it creeps me out. Obviously that little banner is easy to ignore and on its own it's no big deal, but it feels like a yellow flag like if a friend jokingly hints that they really need a glass of wine in the morning, and you know that their social circle is full of alcoholics.

ragazzina 6y ago
You have ads in your settings screen? Can you please share a screenshot? I've never seen anything similar and I can't find examples online. If this is coming, I am very disappointed.
- mgliwka 6y ago
  Got the same: https://ibb.co/zr56sgp https://ibb.co/zr56sgp Edit: It appeared after I purchased a new MacBook. Seems like an Apple Arcade voucher was included with the purchase and it nags me to activate it.

ksec 6y ago

This has been my major concern since 2018. When it was clear their vision of "Service" Revenue is something different to what I had in mind. In 2014 I thought the Services Revenue Growth will be coming from bundling of iPhone + iCloud + AppleCare+ in subscription like services. Sort of like the current iPhone upgrade programme, with upsell of other things like Apple Music, Netflix or HBO where they get some sort of commissions. ( Similar to current App Store sign up commission ). Using something like Apple Credit Card ( that was long rumoured and somehow only launched in 2019 ) where Apple could afford to have revenue spread over a much longer period of time all while increases iPhone affordability. Think 36 Months instead of the usual 24 months. Apple has too much cash on hand and this delayed account receivable is something that could be used to Apple's advantage. Instead they went with AppleTV+, Apple News+ Apple Fitness+, Apple PodCast+, Apple Arcade, and bundling them into ONE all to dilute their $10+Billion Annual raw profits from having Google as default search engine. I mean what's next? "Apple Bank" because their Hardware features and customer data which Apple do collect so they can provide better Banking services? "Apple Insurance" because Apple Watch provides Data to Apple and Apple cant share to other for privacy reason? Apple Cars with special design U1 integration of whatever that only works with Apple Find My Network? And "Apple Taxi" once Apple figure out how to do LV5 AV? This is not Steves-Apple. This is very Tim Cook's Apple.