Apple sweetens its offering by bundling all its iPhone services

Apple is packing TV, music, news and more into a subscription bundle as it increases its push into services tied to its iPhone ecosystem.

It is putting TV, music, news, a freshly launched fitness service tied to Apple Watch and more in a subscription bundle, the Apple One bundle, available later this year starting at $15 (about R245) a month.

It made no mention of a keenly anticipated iPhone 5G considered vital to the company’s fortunes, with analysts expecting it to debut next month due to the disruption in production caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The subscription bundle highlights Apple’s efforts to put more emphasis on digital content and services amid a sluggish global smartphone market.

The bundle includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, the Apple Arcade game service and iCloud storage. A $20 family plan can be shared by up to six people. An upgraded $30 bundle adds Apple Fitness+, Apple News+ and additional cloud storage.

“With Apple One, you can access the best of Apple entertainment across all your favourite devices with one simple subscription,” said Apple senior vice-president of internet software and services Eddy Cue.

The Fitness+ service is tied to its smartwatch lineup, which was enhanced with a Watch SE.

Apple also unveiled its Series 6 smartwatch and added new features including monitoring sleep and blood oxygen levels as well as detecting when wearers are washing their hands. –