The reasoning appears to be that Apple Music subscriptions are worth more to Apple than the revenue from the HomePod hardware. And that same reasoning could apply more widely …
Macworld’s Jason Snell asks whether Apple’s upcoming television service might also be playable on third-party hardware?
To me, that’s a solid argument.
In one step, Apple would be bringing its ecosystem—not just the future Apple video service, but iTunes movie and TV rentals and purchases, and possibly other video services resold by Apple—to the most popular TV streaming boxes out there. The Apple TV, like the HomePod, would be forced to compete as high-margin “premium” hardware—but Apple’s subscription services and a la carte video sales would now be available to a massive audience.
Apple’s most important hardware product may have hit ‘peak iPhone’ on a purely temporary basis, but there’s no denying that services revenue is increasingly important to the company. With people holding onto devices for longer than ever before, recurring monthly income becomes increasingly attractive to the company.
