A titanic shift in strategy related to iTunes and services may be ahead at Apple. Faced with declining market share, a stagnant stock price, double-digit drop in iTunes downloads, failure to contain Pandora’s growth with iTunes Radio, and saturation in the market for iPhones that generate about three quarters of Apple’s profits, it is time that Apple stops burying its head in the sand.
Billboard reports that Apple is considering a multi-pronged strategy that may include an iTunes app for Google's Android. Google has always had apps for iOS but Apple has limited its apps to its own devices. The strategy made sense when Apple was far in the lead. After all, it was easy to attract consumers to Apple devices thanks to the superiority of its apps.
Times have changed. In 2013, 781 million smartphones were shipped with Android while only 153 million smartphones were shipped with iOS. More striking is that Android’s growth rate was 62% compared to 13% for Apple.
Last year Apple launched iTunes Radio with lots of fanfare. At that time the expectation was that iTunes Radio would hurt Pandora. AppleInsider reports that 40% of Pandora listeners are on Apple devices. The recent trial involving Pandora and American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers reveals that iTunes Radio had only a small effect on Pandora. Pandora stock performance since the launch of iTunes Radio reflects the same reality.
By offering iTunes app for Android and complimenting it with more choices on iTunes Radio, as well as launching a service similar to Spotify, Apple can significantly broaden its reach.
Another potential big growth area for Apple is in mobile payments. On the Q1 earnings conference call, Tim Cook said that mobile payments were intriguing. iPhone 5S has a fingerprint scanner that can help Apple differentiate its offerings in mobile payment arena. Apple also has on file about 500 million credit cards from iTunes users.
If Apple were to limit its mobile payment offerings only to users of Apple devices, it would be shooting itself in the foot. An inference from Apple considering a change in strategy to release an iTunes app for Android is that Apple will also consider not limiting its potential mobile payment app to iOS devices. Competition in mobile payments is expected to be fierce between the giants such as Visa and MasterCard on one hand and upstarts such as Square with support from Starbucks and PayPal, which is a division of eBay.
Apple is coming to the realization that it makes sense for it to cater to non-iOS users. The same strategic shift will need to be carried out in other facets of Apple’s business for Apple to prosper. From an investment perspective, the strategy shift will be bullish for Apple stock.
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Disclosure: Subscribers to The Arora Report have long positions in Apple and eBay, and short position in Pandora.
