Apple is reportedly planning several improvements to Apple Fitness+ and Apple Pay this year, as well as exploring offering a new grocery service that integrates with the Health app. Bloombergof Mark Gurman.
in his latest version Open In the newsletter, Gurman outlined his expectations for this year’s new Apple services. Two finance-related Apple services are said to be in development, including a hardware subscription plan and a “buy now, pay later” service for Apple Pay transactions, designed to let customers pay for Apple Pay in installments over time, in contrast to existing Serve like Klarna.
Last month, Gurman explained that hardware subscription plans will allow customers to pay a monthly fee and access an iPhone, iPad or Mac for the duration of the subscription. Apple is said to aim to make the process of buying an iPhone or iPad “on par with buying iCloud storage or paying for an Apple Music subscription, where customers can subscribe to the hardware using their Apple ID and App Store account.”
The service has been rumored to be Apple’s “biggest push” to recurring sales, and while it’s been working on hardware subscriptions for months, it’s apparently been delayed to a “buy now, pay later” Apple Pay service. Gurman claims that Apple is working to implement hardware subscriptions by the end of 2022, but it could be delayed until 2023 or canceled entirely.
Additionally, Apple is reportedly planning to add new workout types to Apple Fitness+ with iOS 16 later this year. Additionally, Apple is also said to be exploring offering “an Instacart-like service that integrates with nutritional data in the Health app.” The service sounds like it might be complicated to implement, Gurman noted, and it’s “pretty low-margin.” He added that he also expects a major upgrade to Apple TV+ this year.
Expanding Apple’s service offerings has been the subject of speculation among some analysts, with Loup Ventures suggesting Apple may offer “Podcasts+,” “Stocks+,” “Mail+,” and “Health+” in the future.