Apple must use iTunes to enable low-cost iPhone sales
Colin Gillis, BGC Financial analyst seems keen on the race to mediocrity. The analyst sees the industry moving to offer devices at low or no cost and then attempting to make cash on services across the lifetime of the device, the so-called blades model. When it comes to Apple’s iTunes:
“800 million users with credit cards, they should monetize it better — with existing services and new services… There are plenty of services that can be layered on top of the iOS platform that I’d like to see Apple aggressively pursuing.”
Video (with awful ad), CNBC
I have to agree with him. I’m somewhat surprised Apple doesn’t use lower cost content to drive hardware sales. Consumers like freebies and as long as Apple makes up the cost of hardware I’m thinking it would be a good thing to give away at least some content with new purchases of hardware. I’m not claiming to be smarter than Apple because they certainly have some specific financial model in mind in their actions but I’m only saying I don’t quite understand how they’re balancing hardware vs. content. I definitely believe Apple could monetize those credit card accounts better but there’s still plenty of time for Apple to anything it wants. Maybe there’s just no need for Apple to rush into anything. Maybe all the pieces aren’t in place yet. I’ve given up trying to second-guess Apple because they seem to be doing a decent job with the company.