Apple’s iPhones and other devices have become increasingly expensive, and the company could use alternative sales models to reach more customers who would be interested in other means of acquisition.
According to information obtained by the Bloomberg news agency, Apple would be developing a hardware subscription service for the iPhone and other Apple-labeled products. Like the iPhone Upgrade Program, you would pay a monthly fee rather than an upfront cost or funded installments. Like any subscription, everything would be managed through your Apple account.
Although the service is under consideration, it would be Apple’s biggest foray into automatic recurring sales allowing users to subscribe to hardware for the first time – rather than just digital services.
Hardware subscriptions
Adopting hardware subscriptions, which are akin to an automatic rental program, would be a major shift in strategy for a company that has traditionally preferred to sell its devices — sometimes through installments or subsidies from cellular carriers. This could help Apple generate more revenue and make it easier for consumers to agree to spend thousands of dollars on new devices, according to Bloomberg, whose informants wish not to be named.
The program would be different from an installment program in that the monthly top-up would not be the price of the device spread over 12 or 24 months. It would rather be a monthly fee not yet determined which would depend on the device chosen by the user.
Such a program would also be easier to manage than payment plans, but would make existing services less attractive.
To be continued.
