Tech.pinions:
There has been a lot of speculation lately that Apple is getting ready to create some media bundle that would be under subscription. According to multiple sites, the idea would be to bundle all of their media properties under a special program that mirrors something like Amazon’s Prime services.
I have no direct knowledge that this will happen but if you read the tea leaves surrounding Apple’s various acquisitions and new media emphasis, it is not too hard to see this possibility.
With that in mind, their most strategic investment so far this year that could be related to this is Texture, the magazine subscription service that has close to 200 magazines in this service for $9.99 a month.
This is one of those things I find most fascinating about Apple – they make acquisitions and decisions that aren’t obvious in the moment but that play out in aggregate over time.
But with Amazon’s acquisitions, Wall Street plays out every little move as being extremely obvious and then Amazon’s share price jumps immediately. That’s why Amazon will be worth far more than Apple by the end of the year. Maybe Apple should make their moves more obvious so Wall Street understands the importance of those moves. Apple really needs to make investors understand that they have some power moves to show to stop Apple from constantly falling in value.
Each time Amazon makes some move, their rivals quickly fall in value as they sell off. Apple should also have that sort of power. I’m willing to bet if Apple started a combined streaming service, competitors will remain as valuable as ever.
Apple doesn’t need to manipulate the stock price like Amazon.
Apple actually makes a ton of profit on what they do.
Apple doesn’t need to actively seek to put the competition out of business. It never has. That was Microsoft’s goal, and now it’s Facebook’s.