One of the most successful examples of bundling is Microsoft's enterprise plans. For instance, the top E5 plan includes so much enterprise software for so low price that it creates the perception of free software. MS Office? Free. Power BI? Free. Etc.<p>Tableau, which I believe is a more sophisticated data visualization application is getting squeezed out from enterprise accounts. Why? Because Power BI is "free".<p>Bundling is a huge power.
It's honestly been amazing to see the utter decimation traditional television/media has encountered over the last decade.<p>An entire generation of kids is growing up without ever having watched TV thanks to Youtube and Twitch.
> The problem is that Apple’s financing programs — both the one pictured above, and also the iPhone Upgrade Program — continue to be funded by 3rd-parties; Apple is making it easier to buy an iPhone, but is still focused on getting its money right away. And, as long as it sticks with this approach, its Apple One bundle feels more like a money-grab, and less like a strategic driver of the business.<p>To me, I see this as a finance play. Since rates are near zero (and will be for some time), you can effectively leverage your revenues on both ends: servicing debt and factoring accounts receivable.<p>Since Apple's customers are usually high income buyers, the AR ratings are already high, combined with low rates, means Apple gets 95%+ of the revenues up front. I'm not sure what period for the new subscriptions they have (whether its a quarterly or annual period), but whatever it is, it's genius.
> sports, meanwhile, is well on its way to being the only reason to keep the traditional bundle.<p>Semi-side note but I feel this will go soon too. Amazon are starting to show sports, inclusive with Prime Video, in the UK.
Hadn't considered how microsoft purchasing a major games studio might affect steam ? so yeah likely microsoft is the dark horse. at $15 for game pass, folks might all together forgo buying some titles on steam. me though hardly a gamer will stick to buying discounted games.
> Print was completely unbundled and commoditized by the Google and Facebook Super Aggregators.<p>Interesting to see some Substack authors countering this trend by re-bundling their products. Notably: <a href="https://everything.substack.com/" rel="nofollow">https://everything.substack.com/</a>
I would have liked an Apple Services bundle where I can pick and choose X number of services for a bundled price where the incentive would be tied to: the more (number of) services one chooses, more discount they'd get. Instead what we got is some random collection of services packaged by Apple being called Individual vs Family vs Premium that either won't exactly have Services that I need or have extras that I won't.
I emailed Tim Cook a few years ago as a shareholder and told him to get serious about gaming and content. Haha i highly highly doubt he ever saw it.<p>These gaming franchises are really the only thing bringing people to these platforms, and the one Achilles heel of the apple ecosystem.. even if apple developed its own franchises, just doing something to elevate gaming on the platform beyond a few indie games would be a long lasting competitive advantage.