The ubiquitous device is becoming a shop window for the firm's services. From a report: As it dreams up more gadgets to sell to more people, however, Apple is employing another strategy in parallel. The company has so far put 1.8bn devices in the pockets and on the desks of some of the world's most affluent consumers. Now it is selling access to those customers to other companies, and persuading those who own its devices to sign up to its own subscription services. As Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, said on a recent earnings call, the Apple devices in circulation represent "a big engine for our services business." The strategy is picking up speed. Last year services brought in $68bn in revenue, or 19% of Apple's total. That is double the share in 2015. In the latest quarter services' share was even higher, at 24%. Apple doesn't break down where the money comes from, but the biggest chunk is reckoned to be fees from its app store, which amounted to perhaps $25bn last year, according to Sensor Tower, a data provider.

The next-biggest part is probably the payment from Google for the right to be Apple devices' default search engine. This was $10bn in 2020; analysts believe the going rate now is nearer $20bn. Apple's fast-growing advertising business -- mainly selling search ads in its app store -- will bring in nearly $7bn this year, reckons eMarketer, another research firm. Most of the rest comes from a range of subscription services: iCloud storage, Apple Music and Apple Care insurance are probably the biggest, estimates Morgan Stanley, an investment bank. More recent ventures like Apple tv+, Apple Fitness, Apple Arcade and Apple Pay make up the rest. New services keep popping up. Last November Apple launched a subscription product for small companies called Apple Business Essentials, offering tech support, device management and so on. In June it announced a "buy now, pay later" service. The company claims a total of 860m active paid subscriptions, nearly a quarter more than it had a year ago.

An anonymous reader shares a report: 'Beware in-app browsers' is a good rule of thumb for any privacy conscious mobile app user -- given the potential for an app to leverage its hold on user attention to snoop on what you're looking at via browser software it also controls. But eyebrows are being raised over the behavior of TikTok's in-app browser after independent privacy research by developer Felix Krause found the social network's iOS app injecting code that could enable it to monitor all keyboard inputs and taps. Aka, keylogging.

"TikTok iOS subscribes to every keystroke (text inputs) happening on third party websites rendered inside the TikTok app. This can include passwords, credit card information and other sensitive user data," warns Krause in a blog post detailing the findings. "We can't know what TikTok uses the subscription for, but from a technical perspective, this is the equivalent of installing a keylogger on third party websites." [emphasis his]

After publishing a report last week -- focused on the potential for Meta's Facebook and Instagram iOS apps to track users of their in-app browsers -- Krause followed up by launching a tool, called InAppBrowser.com, that lets mobile app users get details of code that's being injected by in-app browsers by listing JavaScript commands executed by the app as it renders the page. (NB: He warns the tool does not necessarily list all JavaScript commands executed nor can it pick up tracking an app might be doing using native code -- so at best it's offering a glimpse of potentially sketchy activities.)

Netflix: In April we announced that we will introduce a new lower priced ad-supported subscription plan for consumers, in addition to our existing ads-free basic, standard and premium plans. Today we are pleased to announce that we have selected Microsoft as our global advertising technology and sales partner. Microsoft has the proven ability to support all our advertising needs as we work together to build a new ad-supported offering. More importantly, Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate over time on both the technology and sales side, as well as strong privacy protections for our members. It's very early days and we have much to work through. But our long term goal is clear. More choice for consumers and a premium, better-than-linear TV brand experience for advertisers. We're excited to work with Microsoft as we bring this new service to life.

BMW is now selling subscriptions for heated seats in a number of countries -- the latest example of the company's adoption of microtransactions for high-end car features. From a report: A monthly subscription to heat your BMW's front seats costs roughly $18, with options to subscribe for a year ($180), three years ($300), or pay for "unlimited" access for $415. It's not clear exactly when BMW started offering this feature as a subscription, or in which countries, but a number of outlets this week reported spotted its launch in South Korea. BMW has slowly been putting features behind subscriptions since 2020, and heated seats subs are now available in BMW's digital stores in countries including the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa. It doesn't, however, seem to be an option in the US -- yet.

PlayStation's revamped version of its video game subscription service went live on Monday, giving members access to a catalog of several hundred games both new and old. From a report: PlayStation Plus, once code-named Spartacus, is Sony Group's attempt to compete with rival Microsoft's popular Xbox Game Pass as both publishers jockey to be the Netflix of video games. The new service combines Sony's previous subscription offerings into a three-tiered system. The most basic level, Essential, costs $10 a month and replaces the old PlayStation Plus, offering two downloadable games per month, a smattering of discounts and access to online multiplayer games. It's the top two tiers that are new for PlayStation users. The Extra tier, at $15 a month, offers a library of about four hundred PlayStation 4 and 5 games, while the $18 a month Premium level adds a few hundred classic games to the pool, mostly from the PlayStation 3. The service only has around thirty PS1, PS2 and PSP games, which has been a disappointment for retro gamers.

In an email sent to Microsoft 365 subscribers, the company announced that is killing off Money and Wolfram Alpha data types in Excel starting next year. XDA Developers reports: Money in Excel was one of the big features Microsoft touted when it rebranded Office 365 consumer plans to Microsoft 365. Essentially, it allowed you to easily import data from your bank to help you keep an eye on your finances. That happened just over two years ago, so this feature will have lived just over three years by the time it's discontinued. Thankfully, you can still use it until June 30th, 2023, and your existing data won't disappear. You just won't be able to add any more data to it. Microsoft is instead offering a 60-day free trial of Tiller if you're looking for a similar service, but that means you'll eventually be spending more money on another subscription.

The other feature that's being discontinued is Wolfram Alpha data types, which are also pretty recent. Microsoft first introduced them in July 2020, and they'll stop working on June 11th next year, so they will have lasted less than three years. Excel featured over 100 Wolfram Alpha data types and it seemed to be a big investment for Microsoft, but it's falling by the wayside. This lack of support means refreshing data, following links, and most other features related to Wolfram Alpha data will stop working. Aside from these features, Microsoft is also killing off partner benefits, which could net you discounts on certain products from Microsoft partners if you were a Microsoft 365 subscriber. These will also be discontinued on June 30th, 2023, but until then, you can still check out the available offers if you're interested.

Sony has announced the initial lineup of games for its revamped, multi-tier PlayStation Plus subscription service, and firmed up its launch dates over the next five weeks. From a report: The service will launch in Asia on May 24, Japan on June 2, North and South America on June 13, and Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on June 23. Games coming to the subscription service include Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, the Demon's Souls remake, Insomniac's Spider-Man games, and Red Dead Redemption 2. But the structure of the deal is confusing, there's nothing more recent than the director's cut editions of Ghosts of Tsushima and Death Stranding (both released in mid-2021), and the classic games offering for the service's top tier appears extremely thin at present -- even lacking any PlayStation 2 games under emulation.

The number of titles from third-party developers and publishers is dwarfed by the offering from internal studios. It's important to note, however, that Sony characterized this list as "an early look at some of the games that will be included during the launch time frame." So there is room for the offering to improve in the coming weeks. The lowest-priced Essential tier remains the same as the current PlayStation Plus, offering a handful of free PS4 and PS5 games every month alongside access to multiplayer online gaming. Sony has yet to announce the Essential tier games for the service's relaunch in June.

Netflix could introduce its lower-priced ad-supported tier by the end of the year, a more accelerated timeline than originally indicated, the company told employees in a recent note. From a report: In the note, Netflix executives said that they were aiming to introduce the ad tier in the final three months of the year, according to two people who shared details of the communication, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe internal company discussions. The note also said that they were planning to begin cracking down on password sharing among its subscriber base around the same time, the people said.

Last month, Netflix stunned the media industry and Madison Avenue when it revealed that it would begin offering a lower-priced subscription featuring ads, after years of publicly stating that commercials would never be seen on the streaming platform. But Netflix is facing significant business challenges. In announcing first quarter earnings last month, Netflix said that it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year -- the first time that has happened in a decade -- and expected to lose two million more in the months to come. Since the subscriber announcement, Netflix's share price has dropped sharply, wiping away roughly $70 billion in the company's market capitalization.

Google is preparing to bring its employees back to the office this week, and as an added bonus, it'll be offering them free electric scooters to help ease the transition. The Verge reports: The tech giant is teaming up with e-scooter maker Unagi to launch a new program called "Ride Scoot," in which most of Google's US-based workers can get reimbursed for the full cost of a monthly subscription to Unagi's stylish Model One scooter. The Model One, which retails for $990, is a lightweight dual-motor scooter with a top speed of 20mph and a range of 15.5 miles. Unagi founder and CEO David Hyman said the idea was to help Google employees get to work -- or even just to the closest bus stop. (Google famously provides free shuttle bus service to its employees in Silicon Valley.) "They know there's apprehension amongst employees," Hyman said. "People got really accustomed to working from home. And they're just trying to do everything they can to improve the experience of coming back."

Unagi won't just be handing out free scooters to every Google employee, though. Unagi plans on setting up booths at various Google offices to sign up employees for a monthly scooter subscription at the discounted rate of $44.10 per month, plus the $50 enrollment fee -- the total of which will be fully reimbursable by Google. Scooter subscriptions will also be added as a transportation option to Google's internal employee portal. And Google and Unagi will host demo days for employees to try out the Model One at various office locations.

Employees must also use the scooter for at least nine commutes per month to get fully reimbursed for their monthly subscription. (Google plans on using the honor system and won't be tracking employees' scooter usage.) In addition to Google's main headquarters in Mountain View, other eligible locations include Seattle, Kirkland, Irvine, Sunnyvale, Playa Vista, Austin, and New York City.

Sony is set to launch a new video game subscription service this summer, seeking to drive sales of its PlayStation consoles and compete with a similar offering from Microsoft. CNBC: The company said Tuesday it will bundle its existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into one single subscription service called PlayStation Plus. The new PlayStation Plus will be available in June and comes in three tiers:

1. The basic package, PS Plus Essential, replaces the original PS Plus, which offers players two free games each month and access to online multiplayer. It costs $10 a month or $60 for an annual subscription.
2. A step above Essential is PS Plus Extra, which comes with all the same perks as Essential but includes a selection of 400 downloadable PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 titles. It's priced at $15 monthly or $100 a year.
3. The most expensive package is PS Plus Premium. This one includes 340 more games than Extra, and lets players stream a selection of PS, PS2, PSP, PS3, PS4 and PS5 games over the internet. PS Plus Premium costs $18 a month or $120 each year.

Sony is preparing to introduce a new video game subscription service for the PlayStation as early as next week, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing people familiar with the plans. From the report: The service, which has been in development under the codename Spartacus, is Sony's answer to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, a sort of Netflix for video games that has amassed more than 25 million subscribers. Sony's will debut with a splashy lineup of hit games from recent years, said the people, who requested anonymity because the plans are private. Sony's new service will combine two of its current offerings, PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus. Customers will be able to choose from multiple tiers offering catalogs of modern games and classics from older PlayStation eras.

Mozilla today launched MDN Plus, a paid subscription product on top of the existing (and recently re-designed) Mozilla Developer Network (MDN), one of the web's most popular destinations for finding documentation and code samples related to web technologies like CSS, HTML and JavaScript. From a report: The new subscription offering will introduce features like notifications, collections (think lists of articles you want to save) and MDN offline for when you want to access MDN when you're not online. There will be three subscription tiers: MDN core, a free limited version of the paid plans; MDN Plus 5, with access to notifications, collections and MDN offline for $5 per month or $50 per year; and MDN Supporter 10 for those who are willing to pay a bit more to support the platform in addition to getting a direct feedback channel to the MDN team (as well as "pride and joy," Mozila says). As the name implies, that more expensive plan will cost $10 a month or $100 for an annual subscription.

Companies including Highland Electric and Thomas Built have fleet-as-a-service offerings for U.S. school districts that struggle with the high upfront costs of electric school buses and the charging equipment needed to keep them running. Jeff St. John from Canary Media writes: On Thursday, the Massachusetts-based startup and the North Carolina-based school bus manufacturer announced a plan to offer "electric school bus subscriptions through 2025 at prices that put them at cost parity with diesel." This is essentially a nationwide extension of Highland Electric's "turnkey solutions provider" business model, backed by a big bus maker as its partner. Highland provides the buses and charging infrastructure, pays for the electricity to charge them, covers maintenance costs and manages the other complexities of going electric. The school district or transit authority pays an all-inclusive subscription fee, one that's structured to be lower than its current budget for owning, fueling and maintaining its existing diesel fleets.

Highland, which has raised $253 million in venture capital funding, has projects in 17 states and two Canadian provinces, including one of the largest single electric school bus deployments in the U.S., in Montgomery County, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C. While most of its projects have started small, CEO Duncan McIntyre sees the Montgomery County project -- now at 25 electric buses and set to expand to 326 over the next four years -- as the model for the future. "We are in the business of helping communities that want to complete a full fleet-electrification effort," McIntyre said in an interview. "They don't have to commit to that upfront -- but there's usually an interest in going beyond a few-vehicles pilot."

Other companies are also pulling together private-sector financing to tackle this public-sector market. Nuvve, a publicly traded EV-charging and vehicle-to-grid provider, has formed a financing joint venture that's teamed up with school bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corp. to offer similar electric bus leasing and infrastructure offerings with school districts in California, Colorado, Illinois and other states. And Canadian EV maker Lion Electric has teamed up with Zum, a San Francisco-based startup offering transportation-as-a-service for a number of school districts, in a project aiming at replacing half of Oakland, California's school buses with electric models in the coming year. Such large-scale electric bus projects remain the exception rather than the rule, however. Out of the roughly 500,000 school buses in the U.S., only about 0.2 percent -- just over 1,000 -- were electric as of the end of 2021, according to data from the World Resources Institute's Electric School Bus Initiative. And of the 354 U.S. school districts that have committed to buying electric buses, only 28 plan to deploy 10 or more, according to WRI data.

This relatively low rate of adoption is bound to accelerate as the economics of electric school buses grow more attractive, however. A 2020 study (PDF) conducted by Atlas Public Policy for Washington state indicated that falling battery costs and rising manufacturing volumes should bring electric school buses within total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) parity with fossil-fueled buses by 2030. Total cost of ownership -- a metric that bundles long-term fueling, operating, maintenance and insurance costs and a vehicle's residual value into one single figure -- can be brought down with structures that reduce costs or open up revenue-generating opportunities for the fleets in question, Nick Nigro, Atlas Public Policy's founder, said in an interview. The right combination of structures could allow electric buses to come into TCO parity with diesel buses as soon as 2025, he said.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: Google had plenty of news about Stadia, the consumer-facing aspect of its cloud gaming products, at its Google for Games Developer Summit. On the flip side of that is the white-label platform Google's been working on: a way for other companies to license the game streaming tech that powers Stadia. Previously, that B2B offering was believed to be known as Google Stream. Google has now confirmed more details about the offering, including its name.

It's now called Immersive Stream for Games (which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue as smoothly as Google Stream). The Stadia team built it with the help of the folks at Google Cloud. The company says the service will allow companies to run their own game trials, let users play full games, offer subscription bundles or have full storefronts. In other words, publishers might be able to run their own versions of Stadia with their own libraries of games, branding and custom user interface.

We've seen a version of Immersive Stream for Games in action. Last year, Google teamed up with AT&T to offer people a way to play Batman: Arkham Knight for free via the cloud. Thousands of folks took advantage of the offer. AT&T plans to offer its customers access to another game soon with the help of Immersive Stream for Games. While that version of Batman: Arkham Knight was only available on desktop and laptop web browsers, the next game will run on mobile devices too. If all goes well, it could be a decent way for AT&T to show off what its 5G network can do. Immersive Stream for Games will include other features Google revealed for Stadia today, including a way to offer free trials of full games and a project aimed at making it easier to port games so they run on Stadia tech, as well as analytics. Developers and publishers can send Google an inquiry for more details.

Fueled by manic demand during the early days of Covid, Peloton spent the next two years chasing a dream of fitness dominance. From a report: If Peloton's story thus far were a Peloton class, it would be a high-intensity one, perhaps even a Tabata ride. Everyone would pedal as fast as they could, recover for not long enough, then do it again, as a charismatic figure on the screen urged them on with promises of transformational personal growth and of the massiveness of the total addressable market of subscription fitness. Midway through, the instructor would announce that the 20-minute class would actually go for an hour. Here and there, riders would injure themselves. There would be technical issues with the machines. At the end, right after recommending a five-minute post-ride stretching class and intoning his mantra -- "We're not a stationary bike company, we're not a treadmill company, we are an innovation company that is at the nexus of fitness, technology, and media!" -- the instructor would announce his transition to a new role at the company. It would be exhilarating and entertaining, but perhaps not a ride you'd want to do every day.

[...] The bring-your-own-bike model holds evident appeal for Barry McCarthy (new CEO), who's less interested in the physical machines than in his company's content. "The magic happens in the tablet," he says. He muses that perhaps the Peloton screen should be an open platform where third-party programmers can place apps. Or maybe the company could try the inkjet printer business model, offering machines for cheap and making money through higher monthly subscription fees. At the moment, you can ride your bike even if you're not paying for classes. McCarthy plans to experiment with making those payments mandatory. (On March 10, the company announced such a test, saying it would create a monthly subscription that combines the price of its hardware and content and lacks an upfront hardware payment.) In all of this, McCarthy says he'll let the data be his instructor. It's a familiar narrative: Startup founder gives way to the bean counters and market researchers. Peloton, more than perhaps any other company, trades on charisma -- of its instructors, of its corporate leadership, of its hardcore users cheerfully touting the brand. But even cults need accountants.

Disney+ will be introducing an ad-supported subscription tier later this year, Disney announced on Friday. From a report: The company didn't provide a launch date or pricing, but says it will release specific details about the new offering later this year. The new tier will roll out in the United States in late 2022, with plans to expand internationally next year. The streaming service's current ad-free plan costs $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. Adding a cheaper ad-supported tier for the streaming service will likely help the company further expand its subscriber base. In a press release, Disney said the new tier will be a "building block" in its path to achieve its long-term target of 230-260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.

"Expanding access to Disney+ to a broader audience at a lower price point is a win for everyone -- consumers, advertisers, and our storytellers," said Kareem Daniel, the chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in a statement. "More consumers will be able to access our amazing content. Advertisers will be able to reach a wider audience, and our storytellers will be able to share their incredible work with more fans and families." Following the launch, the streaming service will join several other streaming services that offer ad-supported tiers, including HBO Max, Paramount+ and Discovery+. Hulu, which Disney owns and operates, also offers an ad-supported tier for $6.99 per month.

MoviePass, the defunct discount ticketing service, will return this summer without the firm that ran it into the ground, says co-founder Stacy Spikes. The Verge reports: The company, recently bought by Spikes after his unceremonious ouster from MoviePass in 2018, held its launch event today at the Walter Reade Theater Lincoln Center in NYC. Spikes began by wasting absolutely no time addressing the Helios and Matheson Analytics-shaped elephant in the room. The firm is now infamous for being the parent company of MoviePass that managed to blow the entire thing up shortly after the firm bought the startup, which became famous for offering unlimited movie tickets for a monthly fee.
"A lot of people lost money, a lot of people lost trust," Spikes said, claiming he was among those who were hurt by the company's mismanagement. During the opening moments of the event, Spikes oscillated between addressing the disappointment of being pushed out of his company, joking about MoviePass' loyal consumers -- as well as its power users, who Spikes cracked are the reason the company went out of business -- and finally, the process of snapping the company back after its parent company went bankrupt in 2020. "We're looking at this from another point of view," Spikes said of the company's relaunch, adding that he now plans to run the business like a "co-op." Spikes added that MoviePass users will be able to hold partial ownership of the company, with its most premium tier inclusive of a lifetime subscription.

The company's original engineering team is returning for the business's relaunch, according to Spikes, and the service will launch this summer. Under the new model, MoviePass will run on tradable credits that roll over month to month. Subscribers will also be able to use their credits to bring a friend, a markedly different approach from the single-user card system that MoviePass used previously, which could prove annoying for non-cardholders. MoviePass 2.0 will also work on a tiered system, Spikes said. Spikes shared images of a beta version of the new app and the credit-based system, which will vary based on things like peak moviegoing hours. MoviePass' ambitions for subscribers are, charitably, ambitious. Spikes wants to claim 30 percent of the moviegoer market by 2030, MoviePass' "moonshot" goal. Somewhat unsurprisingly, MoviePass will incorporate aspects of Spikes' existing business PreShow, a technology that has been used to allow gamers to trade ad views for in-game currency. [...] Spikes told attendees at the event that MoviePass' most loyal fans will be "deputized" to beta users and will be able to use the experience for its first year for free. At some point during the summer, these users will be contacted about the beta programming.

Instant-delivery startups promising to ferry groceries to customers in 15 minutes or less have rushed to expand in major cities like New York and Chicago in the past year. But they're burning far more cash in the U.S. than in other countries where they operate, causing several of them to test major changes to their business model -- including longer delivery windows that could allow the startups to pack in more orders per trip. The Information: One example is Jokr, last valued at $1.2 billion on paper, which told investors in the fall it would experiment with slower delivery times and a subscription service to reduce its heavy losses, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. In the month of August, the one-year-old startup was losing $159 per order in the U.S., according to internal data sent to investors in the fall, viewed by The Information. Buyk, a smaller instant-delivery startup, may also introduce longer delivery windows, its CEO said in an interview. And Fridge No More, an instant-delivery firm founded in 2020, plans to introduce a new private-label offering for items like olive oil and milk and to sell prepared foods such as pizza to similarly boost margins, according to a fundraising document seen by The Information. The pressure to change strategy so soon after launching illustrates the challenge of operating an instant-delivery business in the U.S., where intense competition from other rapid-commerce startups and more-established delivery firms like Instacart make it more expensive to attract customers. Labor and real estate costs are also much higher in the U.S than in developing markets like Brazil or Turkey, where some startups first set up their rapid-delivery operations.

"YouTube TV's battle with Disney is over almost as soon as it began," reports Engadget. "The two have struck a deal that restores access to ESPN, FX and other Disney channels on YouTube's streaming service..." As is often the case with disputes like this, each side blamed the other. Disney claimed YouTube TV "declined to reach a fair deal," while YouTube maintained that it was advocating on "behalf" of viewers...

It's not just that channels like ESPN remain a major draw for live TV services â" it's that Disney could easily have siphoned some of those customers to its equivalent Hulu offering. YouTube may have decided that any increased costs (and possible rate hikes) were less painful than losing viewership.
The base subscription rate is returning to $65 per month, but Reuters reports YouTube TV promised that "all impacted members" would still receive a one-off $15 discount.

In a bold bid to turn digital crooks away from a life of crime, Microsoft is offering a 50 percent discount on its Office suite to some people using pirated versions. The Verge reports: Ghacks reports that a new message in the Office ribbon bar is appearing on pirated Office apps, tempting people with a 50 percent discount on a genuine Microsoft 365 subscription. The message links to an official Microsoft website that claims "pirated software exposes your PC to security threats." Microsoft warns Office pirates that they run the risk of running into viruses, malware, data loss, identify theft, and the inability to receive critical updates. The discount brings the price of a Microsoft 365 Family subscription down to just $49.99 for the first year, or $34.99 for a year of Microsoft 365 Personal.