If you have an iPhone in your pocket and an Amazon Prime subscription fee stamped on your current account statement, you could find yourself looking twice at the latter in a few hours. That’s because Apple will hold its annual September gadget showcase this evening (Tuesday September 15), and one of the headline announcements tipped for the event is an Amazon Prime-style membership (as well as a new iPad, Apple Watch Series 6, new AirPods, and the iPhone 12). This will offer a number of digital services similar to their counterparts from Amazon, including music streaming, video on-demand content and cloud photo storage, for a single monthly fee.
Apple-centric blog 9To5Mac has unearthed a number of references to a new monthly subscription service called “Apple One” in the latest beta for iOS 14, which will be available to all iPhones currently running iOS 13 later this month. The reference was found inside the Manage Subscriptions menu inside the Settings app. Last week, sister blog 9To5Google, which (surprise, surprise) centres on rival tech firm Google, discovered references to “Apple One” had been recently introduced into the Apple Music app on Android too.
So, it definitely sounds like Apple is gearing up to launch its new subscription. The new code mentions functions like “Cancel Apple One”, “Keep Apple One” as well as an explanation that states: “You can unsubscribe from Apple One and keep only what you want”. That suggests that iPhone owners will be able to suspend their subscription to the entire bundle – but keep paying the monthly subscription for services they still want to use.
As well as bundling existing monthly subscriptions available from Apple – like on-demand video service Apple TV+ as well as music streaming and internet radio service Apple Music – alongside new monthly options, including fitness service which, like Peloton, will offer video tutorials of workouts and fitness activities to follow along at home. If you’re looking to avoid the gym in the coming months but want to stay fit, Apple One could be a great solution.
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According to Bloomberg, which has an almost unmatched track record when it comes to upcoming hardware and software rumours, Apple will announce its new Apple One bundle during its annual iPhone showcase, traditionally held in September, where the company takes the wraps off the latest iPhone model.
Apple has already confirmed that its latest iPhone model will arrive later than expected due to coronavirus-related delays, however, it’s unclear whether the Cupertino-based company will make Apple One available this month, or whether everything will be pushed back into October and beyond.
Amazon has enjoyed huge success with its Prime membership, which costs £79 a year or £7.99 a month. For that subscription fee, Amazon will throw-in unlimited next-day delivery on thousands of items (and same-day delivery in some areas of the UK), thousands of movies and boxsets courtesy of Prime Video, unlimited photo storage in the cloud so you’ll never lose a holiday snap again – even if your phone sinks to the bottom of the sea, free ebooks on Kindle via Kindle Unlimited, and free delivery on orders over £40 on its supermarket rivalling Amazon Fresh service (a new perk for subscribers).
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Unlike Amazon’s one-price-fits-all approach, Bloomberg says Apple will offer a sliding scale of subscriptions.
An entry-level Apple One bundle will allegedly combine Apple Music (currently £9.99 a month, or £14.99 for an iCloud family with up to six members) and Apple TV+ (free for one year with the purchase of any Apple device, then £4.99 a month). A pricier subscription tier will include Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade (£4.99 a month), Apple News+ (£9.99 a month) and iCloud storage (5GB allowance is free, while 50GB costs £0.79 a month and 200GB storage costs £2.49 a month). If you were to subscribe to all of these services from Apple individually, it would cost you £32.45 a month, or almost £390 a year.
A pricier subscription tier will include Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade (£4.99 a month), Apple News+ (£9.99 a month) and iCloud storage (5GB allowance is free, while 50GB costs £0.79 a month and 200GB storage costs £2.49 a month). If you were to subscribe to all of these services from Apple individually, it would cost you £32.45 a month, or almost £390 a year.
As iPhone and iPad sales slow, the company is increasingly relying on an increase in sales of accessories – like its best-selling AirPods, AirPods Pro and Apple Watch – to existing smartphone customers as well as monthly subscriptions, like Apple Music, Apple TV+, and iCloud storage for back-up.
Last year, Apple kickstarted its Apple TV+ video streaming service by bundling a free year-long trial with the purchase of new Apple hardware. According to sources speaking to Bloomberg, it’s possible there will be a similar tie-in with the forthcoming iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro and Apple One membership later this year.
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