APPLE rolled out a new app for creating event invitations and made changes to its AppleCare+ customer support for iPhones, part of a broader push to generate more subscription revenue.
The event app, called Apple Invites, allows users to organise occasions such as birthday parties. The software can also tap into the Apple Intelligence AI platform to customise invitations, create playlists in the company’s music-streaming service and generate shared photo albums from the event. The app is free to download but requires an iCloud+ subscription, which starts at US$0.99 per month.
The move could be disruptive to some popular mobile invitation tools, including Partiful, Paperless Post, Evite and Punchbowl.
Apple has prioritised its services and subscriptions business in recent years, seeking new ways to augment sales of its devices. The company now gets about US$100 billion a year from services, which have become one of its most reliable growth drivers.
In another subscription-related move, the tech giant is changing how it sells AppleCare+ for iPhones, its protection program for the device. Now, users will not be able to pay upfront for an AppleCare+ plan at retail stores or via the AppleCare menu on the iPhone itself. Instead, they will need to pay monthly or annually. Apple is also prioritising the pricier Theft & Loss plans.
“Customers using an iPhone in the United States can only purchase AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss using the monthly or annual payment option,” Apple told customer service staff. “If the customer asks, AppleCare+ with recurring payments is no longer available for iPhone.”
A monthly AppleCare+ plan for an iPhone 16 Pro costs US$13.99 per month, while the previously available two-year, upfront plan was US$269. AppleCare agents have been instructed to tell customers that the change is designed to lower upfront costs and prevent future gaps in coverage.
The Theft and Loss plans allow customers to replace a lost device by paying a deductible.
Bloomberg News reported earlier on both changes. BLOOMBERG
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