Apple TV Plus occupies an odd place in my streaming services Unlike the other services I subscribe to, I have been a member of this service since its inception And unlike the other services I watch, I have never paid for Apple TV Plus And I am not alone

Famously, Apple offered a free one-year trial to anyone who purchased an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac around the time the service launched in November 2019 Then, quietly, Apple extended those free trials from November 2020 to February 2021 And whoops Apple did it again, crossed out February and wrote July

And Apple is doing the same thing to those who pay for Apple TV Plus as part of the Apple One service bundle (which I am): through July 2021, my Apple ID will receive a $499 monthly credit I learned of this via email, but the reason for this was never explained

I did not intend to cancel my Apple TV Plus subscription However, I did not intend to cancel my Apple TV Plus

To clear up my confusion, I called an expert Interestingly, he explained that his Apple TV situation was similar to mine: "I got an iPhone 11 the year before last and got an Apple TV Plus for free at that time It's been free ever since"

As for what's going on here, Dergarabedian said he can't dare rely on standard expectations, but that "human nature is such that most people don't opt out and just let it happen" and that "the impact of the pandemic on the pockets of many consumers He notes that we are at a different moment because "I don't think we can discount it

But this is not Apple's pandemic price, and when people are getting these free years by spending hundreds on phones and laptops, they don't have to offer eitherDergarabedian thinks something else is going on is, Apple could be trying to mentally build users: "I don't want to pretend like companies are always altruistic, I'm not naive, but I think if you want consumers to be your customers, not just for a day, not just for a week or a month I think there is an understanding that for a living, often the currency of goodwill is generated by, for example, "hey, you get another month free or we give you another year free" It all generates goodwill

Of course, there is also the knock-on effect of extending the free trial period I may have lost track of when my free plan ends Thanks to Apple's openness about the extended trial, I know it will expire in June So I could have set a reminder for June 1 to reconsider the Apple TV Plus, as I always do But I didn't In retrospect, why didn't I?

Maybe I just accepted the price of the Apple TV included in the Apple One bundle Or maybe, like Paul, Apple's free period buttered me: "Ted Lasso," "Beastie Boys Story," "Mythic Quest": proof that this service entertains and surprises me

As I mentioned when I blogged about signing up for Apple One, Ted Lasso won "my continued interest" in what Apple TV Plus is trying to do Ultimately, however, I bet he will begin to realize that his $5/month would be better spent on movies that he buys or rents online (since he still doesn't have a movie theater)

For Apple, there is still the challenge of growing a young piece of business If they don't surround themselves with viewers when a hit movie is produced, it may be difficult to revive the service As Denzel Washington said in Training Day, "This is chess '"

And this paints a less than favorable picture of how well Apple TV Plus is doing as an initiative If Apple is advertising its own subscriber numbers, it might make sense to use the free trial to maintain those numbers However, while Apple has updated several TV Plus programs, it has not released subscriber numbers (although it has not released definitive figures on hardware sales either), and many wonder how bad the situation is

Statista projects 40 million Apple TV Plus users in 2020; MoffettNathan reports that 62% of Apple TV Plus subscribers are taking the free trial for free The report states that 29% have no plans to re-subscribe

When I questioned MoffettNathanson's survey response over the fact that 29% of Apple TV Plus subscribers have no plans to re-subscribe, Dergarabedian dismissed the value of that claim in these words: "Nobody is going to re-subscribe I think

Talking about Apple's current success, Dergarabedian and I agreed that the company is more interested in keeping people in the family as long as possible than in risking them leaving And the more I witness Ted Lasso level shows, the more I may leave with a favorable opinion of Apple

Dergarabedian related how car salesmen operate, "They want to sell you one car now, but they want you to come back to buy all the cars from them," and that cars and streaming services are much different purchases Before pointing out In a way, though, the consumer base behind them is the same driving force: goodwill" Favoritism often leads to long-term benefits, and it maintains and sustains relationships with consumers"

I'm sure Apple hopes to one day make a profit on the Apple TV Plus But if Apple took away my free pass, some of us would definitely start thinking about leaving Hopefully, for Apple's sake, Ted Lasso Season 2 will come first