Apple seems to be focusing more on their services, as their services are expected to grow to over $100 billion in the year 2023, according to research by Katy Huberty from Morgan Stanley. He even expects services revenue to be over 50% of Apple’s revenue growth, over the next 5 years. MacRumors discovered that yesterday, Apple Music began to appear in the Google Home App as a Google Assistant Service, along with Pandora, Spotify, etc., though it wasn’t allowing users to sign in and use the service. This implies that it is an upcoming feature, and we should expect it to be working very soon. Once active, users will be able to use their Google Home devices, including 3rd party Google Assistant powered smart speakers and smart displays, to stream their Apple Music content, and use their voice to control playback and volume.
Below is how Apple Music appears in the Google Home App, photo credits to The Verge.
Just in December, Apple launched its Apple Music services to Amazon Alexa enabled devices. Until then, the only smart speakers Apple Music was available on was the HomePod. Apple is focusing more on expanding their services to be accessible everywhere, as just last month at CES, it was announced that iTunes streaming services would be available on newer Samsung TV’s, and soon more to come.
Next month, it is rumored that Apple is going to host a services event, where they could announce their new Netflix-like streaming service and news subscription service.
All this implies that Apple is beginning to focus more on expanding its services, and subscription-based revenue models. Maybe one day there will be an iCloud app for Android, and personally, I would like an Apple Notes app for Android or Windows that syncs with my Apple Devices. Would it be too much to ask for iMessage or FaceTime too? Apple services are large factors in maintaining customer loyalty in Apple devices and keeping customers in the Apple ecosystem. It will be interesting to see which services Apple opens up, and which they don’t.
(Cover photo credits:Â Cnet)