Apple officially expanded the reach of its services offerings today, bringing key content businesses to more countries.
The expansion sees the App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud launch in 20 new countries. Meanwhile, Apple Music debuts in a total of 72 new markets. Users signing up to the Apple Music free trial in 52 of the new countries will be able to use the service for free for six months, compared to the usual three-month trial offers.
This means even more Apple users around the world can access key features of its devices. It’s almost incredible to believe that there are people in the world who are using iPhones, without access to the App Store. The expansion will help Apple increase services revenue, in addition to offering new monetization opportunities for developers.
Per the press release, The App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Podcasts and iCloud are now available in:
- Africa: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda, and Zambia.
- Asia-Pacific: Maldives and Myanmar.
- Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia.
- Middle East: Afghanistan (excluding Apple Music) and Iraq.
- Oceania: Nauru (excluding Apple Music), Tonga, and Vanuatu.
Apple Music will also be available in these countries, with a six-month promotional trial.
- Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Chad, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
- Asia-Pacific: Bhutan.
- Europe: Croatia, Iceland, and North Macedonia.
- Latin America and the Caribbean: the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos, and Uruguay.
- Middle East: Kuwait, Qatar, and Yemen.
- Oceania: Solomon Islands.
Of course, users in these areas can expect localized content that is geographically appropriate. For instance, Apple Music is launching new locally-targeted playlists like Africa Now or Ghana Bounce.
Financially, Apple has depended on Services to drive revenue growth in recent years. The majority of that revenue comes from Apple’s 30% cut of App Store app sales. It has recently shown strong ambitions to diversify and grow that pie. Until last year, Apple’s content services were limited to Apple Music and the iTunes Store. In 2019, Apple debuted Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+ initiatives.
The company is widely expected to launch a media services bundle within the next couple of years, which would offer a combination of Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ for a lower monthly fee than buying each service individually.
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