The list of Apple subscription services keeps growing. iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, MLS Season Pass, Apple One … The company of course also takes a cut of subscriptions sold through the App Store, Apple Books, and Apple Podcasts. Then there are the hardware-related subscriptions, AppleCare+ and the iPhone Upgrade Program.
Most recently, we’ve had the launch of Apple Creator Studio, and a new report says that we can expect to see even more subscriptions to come …
The upside of more Apple subscriptions
I’m on record as saying that I think Apple Creator Studio is a very good deal for many.
Apple Creator Studio bundle is likely a very good deal for many creative professionals. It’s not a like-for-like comparison, and which of the two packages will suit you better depends on your needs, but just as an illustration a standard Adobe Creative Cloud Pro subscription will cost you almost $800 a year if you commit to annual billing. You can more than double this if you need to buy additional credits for generative AI features. Apple Creator Studio, in contrast, is $129 a year or $13 a month, and appears to offer all the AI you can eat.
Competition is generally good for consumers, so I’m happy to see Apple providing competition for dominant players like Adobe, Spotify, Netflix, and so on. Additionally, combined subscription bundles like Apple One and Apple Creator Studio can offer particularly good value.
In our poll, a majority of you were happy about the launch of the latter so long as we retain the choice between renting and buying the apps. However, it was notable that more than a third of you were unhappy about the development, even with this choice.
Two downsides to Apple subscriptions
I think there are two big reasons for the sizable number of you who weren’t happy with the ACS launch.
Subscription fatigue
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