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Apple (AAPL) Expands App Store, Arcade, Music to New Markets
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Apple (AAPL - Free Report) recently added markets for its major services including the App Store, iCloud, Apple Podcasts and its subscription-based gaming service, Arcade which are now available in 20 new countries, along with taking Apple Music to 52 new territories.
In Africa, Apple’s services will be available in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda and Zambia. Additionally, they will also become available in the Maldives and Myanmar in the Asia-Pacific region, Afghanistan and Iraq in the Middle East, and several nations in the Balkans and Oceania.
In January, the company had an installed base of 1.5 billion active devices and aimed to reach 600 million subscribers by the end of this year.
Notably, the newest expansion brings the total count for App Store availability to 175 and Music to 167 out of the 193 United Nations-recognized countries in the world.
App Store continues to draw the attention of prominent developers from around the world, helping the company offer appealing new apps that drive traffic.
Apple is aiming to bring localized content to as many of the newly added locations as possible while it boasts half a billion weekly App Store users, per a company report.
Since its inception in 2008, Apple’s App Store has been the company’s biggest services revenue generator where it keeps a cut between 15% and 30% of sales.
App Store reported a record first-quarter fiscal 2020 performance as third-party subscription revenues increased 40% year over year. Expansion into 20 new countries is expected to boost App Store revenues in the near term.
Apple’s Music Aims to Compete Better With Rivals
The expansion ramps up the global presence of Apple Music, which has 60 million subscribers, against market leader Spotify (SPOT - Free Report) , which has more than 120 million paid users but is available in fewer markets around the world.
Apple Music is also expanding to the following countries in Africa namely Algeria, Angola, Benin, Chad, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Tunisia.
Elsewhere, Apple Music is expanding to Bhutan, Croatia, Iceland and North Macedonia, the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos, Uruguay, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen and the Solomon Islands.
This compares to 63 countries that Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google-owned YouTube Music currently supports and 80 countries that Spotify supports.
In the United States, Apple offers a three-month free trial and charges individual users $9.99 a month thereafter. In the new markets, Apple will offer a six-month trial period and adjust prices ranging from as low as $3 to $11 monthly like $4.99/month in markets such as Iraq and Kuwait.
Additionally, Apple will extend its efforts to curate locally relevant playlists to these countries with titles like Africa Now, Afrobeats Hits and Ghana Bounce.
Moreover, Apple Music’s availability on Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) Echo devices is expected to expand the iPhone maker’s footprint further in the music streaming space.
Solid Services Portfolio to Aid Apple’s Prospects
Apple’s Services portfolio that includes revenues from cloud services, such as App store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, licensing and Apple TV+ streaming among other services has now become its cash cow.
Apple’s expansion into new markets with its non-iPhone portfolio is a key catalyst. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company currently has more than 480 million paid subscribers across its Services portfolio. In the first quarter of 2020, Services (13.8% of sales) revenues grew 16.9% from the year-ago quarter to $12.72 billion.
Apple Podcasts has more than one million shows in over 100 languages. Apple's iCloud service is free but allows users to upgrade for extra storage.
The Arcade gaming service launched last year includes ad-free original titles designed for Apple devices and offers unlimited access to the entire catalogue of more than 100 exclusive games, all playable across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV.
Although supply-chain disruption due to the coronavirus outbreak is expected to mar iPhone’s growth in the near term, we believe, growing Services business bode well Apple’s prospects.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
Image: Bigstock
Apple (AAPL) Expands App Store, Arcade, Music to New Markets
Apple (AAPL - Free Report) recently added markets for its major services including the App Store, iCloud, Apple Podcasts and its subscription-based gaming service, Arcade which are now available in 20 new countries, along with taking Apple Music to 52 new territories.
In Africa, Apple’s services will be available in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda and Zambia. Additionally, they will also become available in the Maldives and Myanmar in the Asia-Pacific region, Afghanistan and Iraq in the Middle East, and several nations in the Balkans and Oceania.
In January, the company had an installed base of 1.5 billion active devices and aimed to reach 600 million subscribers by the end of this year.
Notably, the newest expansion brings the total count for App Store availability to 175 and Music to 167 out of the 193 United Nations-recognized countries in the world.
Apple Inc. Price and Consensus
Apple Inc. price-consensus-chart | Apple Inc. Quote
Apple’s App Store Expansion
App Store continues to draw the attention of prominent developers from around the world, helping the company offer appealing new apps that drive traffic.
Apple is aiming to bring localized content to as many of the newly added locations as possible while it boasts half a billion weekly App Store users, per a company report.
Since its inception in 2008, Apple’s App Store has been the company’s biggest services revenue generator where it keeps a cut between 15% and 30% of sales.
App Store reported a record first-quarter fiscal 2020 performance as third-party subscription revenues increased 40% year over year. Expansion into 20 new countries is expected to boost App Store revenues in the near term.
Apple’s Music Aims to Compete Better With Rivals
The expansion ramps up the global presence of Apple Music, which has 60 million subscribers, against market leader Spotify (SPOT - Free Report) , which has more than 120 million paid users but is available in fewer markets around the world.
Apple Music is also expanding to the following countries in Africa namely Algeria, Angola, Benin, Chad, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Tunisia.
Elsewhere, Apple Music is expanding to Bhutan, Croatia, Iceland and North Macedonia, the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos, Uruguay, Kuwait, Qatar, Yemen and the Solomon Islands.
This compares to 63 countries that Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google-owned YouTube Music currently supports and 80 countries that Spotify supports.
In the United States, Apple offers a three-month free trial and charges individual users $9.99 a month thereafter. In the new markets, Apple will offer a six-month trial period and adjust prices ranging from as low as $3 to $11 monthly like $4.99/month in markets such as Iraq and Kuwait.
Additionally, Apple will extend its efforts to curate locally relevant playlists to these countries with titles like Africa Now, Afrobeats Hits and Ghana Bounce.
Moreover, Apple Music’s availability on Amazon’s (AMZN - Free Report) Echo devices is expected to expand the iPhone maker’s footprint further in the music streaming space.
Solid Services Portfolio to Aid Apple’s Prospects
Apple’s Services portfolio that includes revenues from cloud services, such as App store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, licensing and Apple TV+ streaming among other services has now become its cash cow.
Apple’s expansion into new markets with its non-iPhone portfolio is a key catalyst. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company currently has more than 480 million paid subscribers across its Services portfolio. In the first quarter of 2020, Services (13.8% of sales) revenues grew 16.9% from the year-ago quarter to $12.72 billion.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Apple Podcasts has more than one million shows in over 100 languages. Apple's iCloud service is free but allows users to upgrade for extra storage.
The Arcade gaming service launched last year includes ad-free original titles designed for Apple devices and offers unlimited access to the entire catalogue of more than 100 exclusive games, all playable across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV.
Although supply-chain disruption due to the coronavirus outbreak is expected to mar iPhone’s growth in the near term, we believe, growing Services business bode well Apple’s prospects.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
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