The Apple bundle that wasn’t
I put forward a few predictions for Apple's By Innovation Only event in my last post, most of which were unfortunately off the mark. First off, no bundles were announced. Second, the lowball bundle price of $34.99 I predicted ended up being the actual price for all four services together with Family Sharing included, rather than for just one individual.
John Gruber from Daring Fireball:
A lot of people expected TV+ to cost $10 per month — not because they thought it looked worth $10 per month but because Apple is Apple.
Guilty.
The bundle that was announced
As Jason Snell put it in his article on Six Colors:
The Apple TV+ bundle that isn’t a bundle
A purchase of a new iPad, iPhone or Mac will get a year’s subscription to Apple TV+. It’s not what a lot of people were anticipating, but it’s the closest thing to a bundle that Apple announced during the event. A saving of $60 for the year (where the subscription automatically renews afterwards) isn’t much, but may prove essential in getting the service on its feet.
Impressions of Apple Arcade and Apple TV+
I still believe Apple Arcade, which has been released a few days early, is a great deal at $4.99 and I’ll be trying it out. The initial games look interesting (video: 100 games in a 100 seconds), plus there are no in-app purchases.
The Apple TV+ service comes down to the content. At $4.99, I think it’s equally worth testing.