Roger Fingas
Speaking at a recent internal "town hall" event, Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that services beyond Apple Music might soon make the leap to additional platforms, like Android.
The Apple Music Android app is currently testing the prospect of growing services through new platforms, 9to5Mac reported, citing sources who heard Cook at the gathering. One of the main goals of the app was initially to avoid losing subscribers to Beats Music, which Apple Music is based on. Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion in 2014, and began transitioning customers shortly after Apple Music was launched in June 2015.
Android support also maximizes potential listenership, in light of the platform being more widespread than iOS. Apple could conceivably bring iTunes music, book, and/or video sales to Android, along with its rumored streaming TV offering.
Cook separately commented on the decline of the iPad, insisting that the product should return to revenue growth by the end of 2016. Sales have been on the decline for several quarters, driven by factors like the growing popularity of "phablets" like the iPhone 6s Plus, and slower upgrade cycles when compared with smartphones.
A third-generation iPad Air is expected to debut this spring, which could help reinvigorate sales with iPad Pro-like features including a Smart Connector and stereo speakers.
Cook addressed a number of other topics as well, noting that the first workers should be moving into Campus 2 by the end of January 2017. Apple employees are now also eligible for up to four weeks of paid leave if they need to take care of sick relatives, and the company's improved maternity and paternity benefits should be available in most countries outside the U.S.
COO Jeff Williams added that the company will soon announce that all of the smelted metals Apple uses are either conflict-free, or from partners presently being validated for conflict-free status.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
77 Comments
iPad revenues will go back up because of the Apple Pencil. As they add it to the iPad Air (and eventually to the mini), people will be forced to buy a new iPad. Beyond that however, what are they going to do? That's just next year, and just a blip.
Apple really doesn't seem to have a clue in how to make the iPad market grow in the long term. Not only that, they seem to be moving in the wrong direction (with the noted exception of the Pencil).
Also, who really gives a rodent's behind about the super-rich Apple employees work benefits? Most of the employees at Apple (barring the retail ones) are millionaires already. They already have the kind of working conditions one would expect in Canada or Europe and are thus far above the rest of the American population already. Why should I as a customer of Apple care that they now have even more?
Please don't share with iKnockoff users. This sounds terrible. Continue building your own ecosystem and reward those who pay for your products.
Apple is in a great [position because everyone is sharing with them and they have their own perks on top of that.
I hope that more cross-platform services -- e.g., all of iLife -- will be Apple's next big move. (But not MacOS).
I've been calling for it on these forums for many years now, and usually all I've got is pushback about Apple exclusivity and why it would not be a smart thing to do.
I think it'd be a very smart thing to do, since people will see what they're missing -- how much more organic the experience can be -- on the hardware front. It's the availability of the Apple ecosystem experience on Windows, especially iTunes combined with the iPod, that pushed people in droves to switch to Apple hardware.