14 Macworld • December 2019NEWS ANALYSIS
of users concluding their free trials, I wouldn’t
be surprised if the company decided to hold off
on adding any additional subscription services
at present, and instead decided to try and entice
more new customers to the services – hence
plays like the free year of Apple TV+. With TV
streaming options, including Disney+ and Britbox,
launching in the UK soon, there’s a real danger
from subscription fatigue, and Apple wants to lock
in its customers as soon as possible.iPadding the margins
What a turnaround for Apple’s tablet. The device
that was poised to revolutionize the way we
interacted with our computers took a sharp
nosedive in sales over the past couple years, but
it seems to have rebounded with a healthy profit in
more recent quarters.
There are a few points working in the iPad’s
favour: first of all, Apple’s investment in the iPad
Pro has proved to be a winner, with many people
increasingly comfortable using the tablet to do
work that they used to do on a laptop, despite the
unending arguments about whether or not the
devices are suitable for ‘real work’.
But I think the bigger advantage is the breadth
of offerings in the category. You can get a very
capable iPad starting all the way down at £349,
which includes compatibility with the Apple Pencil
and the Smart Keyboard, or you can spend as
much as £1,669 to get a 12.9in iPad Pro with all the
trimmings. That’s an enormous range of options, at