Apple to bundle TV shows, music, news into one subscription: Report

Apple could soon have a single subscription service for its original television shows, music, news content. (Representational Image of iPhone 8. Source: Reuters)

Apple could soon offer a single subscription for original television shows, music service, magazine articles, according to a new report in The Information. The report notes that Apple’s single subscription service could be similar to Amazon Prime, which has video, music, news included in it as well. An earlier report in the Wall Street Journal had also talked about how Apple could have bundle its original video content with news content, Apple Music and iCloud storage.

It is not clear when Apple will launch this single subscription service. In June this year, Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had signed a deal with Oprah Winfrey for its video subscription service. It has also been reported that the Cupertino-based technology giant has rights for the television series adaptation of Isaac Asmiov’s Foundation Series as well as the best-seller novel Shantaram.  Another comedy series by Reese Witherspoon will also be part of Apple’s video service, which is yet to roll out.

The expectation is that Apple will roll-out its video series by 2019, though when is not clear. The reports about Apple and its original content services have been floating for a while now, though the company has not officially confirmed a release date for the same.

For Apple, services will become an increasingly important source of revenue, considering that analysts expect iPhone sales to peak after 2019. Apple’s other hardware like Macs and iPads are not really driving growth, and currently, the iPhone is the main source of revenue for the company.

However, Apple’s services business has grown in double digits if one goes by the results from the last couple of quarters. In the quarter ending in March 2018, Apple reported that the services business jumped by 31 per cent and saw a total revenue of $9.2 billion. It is expected to growth further in the future.