Apple’s so-called shift to services, largely prompted by falling iPhone sales, has been much discussed, not least here on TMO. However, there’s a reason for that – it matters, profoundly, to the future of the company. On March 25th a number of services are expected to be unveiled by the company at a special event. Axios reporters Sara Fischer and Ina Fried nicely summed up where the company is in this transition, why it is happening, and what we can expect next.

What started out as cloud storage and extended support contracts, Apples’ “services” revenue sector has expanded to include Apple Music and will soon likely expand further to news, video and gaming. Apple has made an aggressive push into media and entertainment over the past year, which has sparked rumors that it could one day sell a bundled subscription, where consumers could potentially pay one fee for an array of entertainment and media services.

The Verge writes: “Over the weekend, in a speech at the Cinema Audio Society’s CAS Awards, director Steven Spielberg reminded listeners yet again that he’s specifically dedicated to a theater-based cinematic experience as ‘a firm believer that movie theaters need to be around forever.'”… and “for all the high-quality content streaming services are producing and regardless of the quality of people’s home theater setups, ‘there’s nothing like going to a big dark theater with people you’ve never met before, and having the experience wash over you.’” (Image credit: Gage Skidmore.)

What do you think?