Mark Gurman reported that Apple is planning to make several improvements to Apple Fitness+ and Apple Pay this year, and explore providing a new grocery service that integrates with health apps.
In the latest issue of the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Gurman talks about his expectations for Apple’s new services this year. According to his new information, Apple is developing two financial-related services, namely a hardware subscription plan and a “buy now, pay later” service for Apple Pay transactions.
Buy now, pay later, a service that allows customers to pay in installments using Apple Pay, rivals existing services like Klarna. (Klarna is the mainstream online payment for European merchants, similar to domestic Alipay, and “buy first, pay later” is similar to Huabei. The seller will receive Klarna’s payment in advance, and then Klarna and the buyer will make subsequent installments).
Gurman broke the news last month about Apple’s hardware subscription plan, which will allow customers to pay a monthly subscription fee and have access to iPhones, iPads and Macs during the subscription period. Apple is said to aim to make the process of buying a hardware subscription comparable to buying iCloud storage or an Apple Music subscription, while users can subscribe to the hardware using their Apple ID and App Store account.
Word has it that the hardware subscription program is Apple’s “biggest boost” to day-to-day sales, and while the program has been in the works for several months, it’s now noticeably delayed as Apple is currently focusing on a “buy now, pay later” Apple Pay service. Gurman said that Apple is working to get hardware subscriptions online by the end of 2022, but may delay until 2023 or even cancel the plan.
In addition, Apple plans to add new workout types to Apple Fitness+ with iOS 16 later this year, and in addition to that Apple is already exploring a service “similar to US grocery delivery service Instacart, which works with health apps” integration of nutritional data in Gurman noted that the service may sound difficult to achieve and “pretty low-profit margins.” He also added that he also expects a substantial upgrade to Apple TV+ this year.
The expansion of Apple’s services has been the subject of speculation among some analysts, with Loup Ventures suggesting that Apple may offer “Podcasts+,” “Stocks+,” “Mail+,” and “Health+” in the future.