Shock price hikes for Apple TV Plus, Apple Music, and Apple One subscriptions arrive today

[iMore.com]

Subscribers of Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, and Apple One are all going to be paying more thanks to a price hike. Full story from the iMore Blog...

 

[Tartarus]

How is paying one or 2 dollars, euros, Monopoly money or whatsoever more per month considered shocking?
The competitors hiked their prices higher and sooner than Apple did. It’s time someone said this out loud.

 

[Wotchered]

How is paying one or 2 dollars, euros, Monopoly money or whatsoever more per month considered shocking?
The competitors hiked their prices higher and sooner than Apple did. It’s time someone said this out loud.

Not shocking me, I don’t use ‘em.

 

[EdwinG]

Looking at my email, I don't see any changes in my Apple billing - yet.

 

[Annie_M]

How is paying one or 2 dollars, euros, Monopoly money or whatsoever more per month considered shocking?
The competitors hiked their prices higher and sooner than Apple did. It’s time someone said this out loud.

I agree! This is not shocking at all. Netflix's prices have increased frequently and substantially!

 

[Just_Me_D]

Do you think they are purposely hiking the rates like other companies to push a lot of its customers to their ad-based alternatives so they can take advantage of ad revenue?

 

[Tartarus]

Do you think they are purposely hiking the rates like other companies to push a lot of its customers to their ad-based alternatives so they can take advantage of ad revenue?

I don’t have deep pockets per se, but I don’t see me defaulting to anything with ads anytime soon. I’ll gladly pay for a plan without ads in it.

I don’t have the knowledge to guess about why they’re hiking the rates.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I don’t have deep pockets per se, but I don’t see me defaulting to anything with ads anytime soon. I’ll gladly pay for a plan without ads in it.

I don’t have the knowledge to guess about why they’re hiking the rates.

I’m with you, and if the price gets to the point of not being worth it then I’ll simply do without.

 

[EdwinG]

Do you think they are purposely hiking the rates like other companies to push a lot of its customers to their ad-based alternatives so they can take advantage of ad revenue?

I don't think they're hiking it up to introduce an ad-subsidized tier.

I do think that their operational costs have gone up significantly. One of the places where costs may have gone up are their data centres, especially if they are in regions where it is fossil fuel dependent, simply because DCs consume a lot of electricity: power to equipment, cooling (sometimes heating), generators, equipment maintenance, employee equipment. Add on top the employee salaries, benefits, legal costs, etc.

It sucks to say, but it's a vicious cycle

 

[Up_And_Away]

I don’t have deep pockets per se, but I don’t see me defaulting to anything with ads anytime soon. I’ll gladly pay for a plan without ads in it.

I don’t have the knowledge to guess about why they’re hiking the rates.

+1 on what Tartarus wrote. I don’t have deep pockets either but I’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming to use ad supported. I’ll cut out an expense/service and use that savings to support the non ads services I do use.
“User experience” is a phrase that didn’t become highly used until a few years ago. But it really is an important element of using service. Watching a streaming show or listening to music (or others) only to be interrupted by grating, inane advertisements (that frequently are a race to the bottom in idiocy)? Life is too short

 

[FFR]

I suspect it’s due inflation.

 

[Just_Me_D]

I don't think they're hiking it up to introduce an ad-subsidized tier.

I do think that their operational costs have gone up significantly. One of the places where costs may have gone up are their data centres, especially if they are in regions where it is fossil fuel dependent, simply because DCs consume a lot of electricity: power to equipment, cooling (sometimes heating), generators, equipment maintenance, employee equipment. Add on top the employee salaries, benefits, legal costs, etc.

It sucks to say, but it's a vicious cycle

Excellent analysis sir, and it makes sense.

 

[Up_And_Away]

I don't think they're hiking it up to introduce an ad-subsidized tier.

I do think that their operational costs have gone up significantly. One of the places where costs may have gone up are their data centres, especially if they are in regions where it is fossil fuel dependent, simply because DCs consume a lot of electricity: power to equipment, cooling (sometimes heating), generators, equipment maintenance, employee equipment. Add on top the employee salaries, benefits, legal costs, etc.

It sucks to say, but it's a vicious cycle

Very well thought out. Data centers are a MASSIVE power draw. I had the unfortunate duty (to me it was unfortunate) of working in a data center (we called it prison solitary confinement). Servers by the thousands using power while massive air conditioner keeps it chilly.

Unfortunately that vicious cycle includes those of us who have a paycheck that is not adjusting for inflation. Ultimately it means I give up ad free music or eat peanut butter sandwiches on day old bread more often for dinner. So far I find that the no name peanut butter tastes just as good

 

[EdwinG]

Unfortunately that vicious cycle includes those of us who have a paycheck that is not adjusting for inflation. Ultimately it means I give up ad free music or eat peanut butter sandwiches on day old bread more often for dinner. So far I find that the no name peanut butter tastes just as good

Hahahaha…

I'm asking for a significant raise this year… Either they accept or I will go somewhere where it's better paid (like 30+k$/year higher).

 

[Up_And_Away]

Hahahaha…

I'm asking for a significant raise this year… Either they accept or I will go somewhere where it's better paid (like 30+k$/year higher).

Ha! Funny, the awesome club pack-discount warehouse buying. That may allow me to afford extra iCloud storage too

Glad to hear you’re shopping yourself. I firmly believe if you understand ‘they are lucky to have you’, not the other way around, your future employer will reward you. I’m nearing the end for my current job. The server side business changed due to the pandemic changing corporate behavior (less on prem, more AWS, Azure etc). I’ll be shopping myself within a couple months. I’m 90% looking forward to it. But I’m sticking around this job until the end. There is some severance coming as well as letting me go, versus voluntarily leaving, breaks a couple of potentially problematic clauses keeping me from visiting numerous competitors.

 

[EdwinG]

I just got my increase email from Apple for Apple TV+: 3$/month (+15% tax). Still better than my HoA fees

 

[Ledsteplin]

I just got my increase email from Apple for Apple TV+: 3$/month (+15% tax). Still better than my HoA fees

https://images.moimeme.ca/imore/457577/Screen Shot 2022-10-31 at 21.06.55.png

Another reason I won't be subscribing. That, and I wasn't thrilled with the content offered while I had it for several months.

 

[Up_And_Away]

Another reason I won't be subscribing. That, and I wasn't thrilled with the content offered while I had it for several months.

I’m not a big TV watcher so I’m probably not the best judge, but I haven’t loved much of the content either. I did love Earth At Night. I largely enjoyed Tragedy of Macbeth, Greyhound, Finch. The Lincoln series had its moments-ish. I enjoyed season one of Ted Lasso (I found it interesting for a TV series to try to make characters not all bad or good). Season Two kinda lost me. But I found quite a bit of the content to be dour. Down and out, depression, alcoholism, bleak. Some may enjoy It but usually that just doesn’t appeal to me. Some that overtly wants to be political. That just really doesn’t make for entertaining TV, at least for me.
My new T Mobile plan gives me AppleTV+ one year free. I have AppleOne but I’m going to cancel. Buy one year of Apple Music 109 (9 per month average) and .99 iCloud+. Save 7 of AppleOne. But I’ll take the free AppleTV+. Masters of the Air must be coming soon. It started filming last February. 20 months, it has to be very close to release.

 

[EdwinG]

Another reason I won't be subscribing. That, and I wasn't thrilled with the content offered while I had it for several months.

And that’s the right thing to do.

If you can’t afford it and/or the service doesn’t meet your needs and/or you have objections on the way a service operates, don’t pay for it. That’s how you show the operator that they don’t (or no longer) have your business.

That’s why Netflix lost my account, and with the recent changes, probably won’t have it for a long time.

Meanwhile, there’s content on Apple TV+ that appeals to me, and I will pay for it.

 

[imwjl]

It all seems reasonable and makes sense to me. We are in the family everything plan. Everyone uses the music and storage. I love News+. On occasion I have enjoyed the TV+.

A whole look at our cellular plan, cable/ISP and other services have us spending less per month than cable TV used to cost and we get much more and better.