Users’ preference for audio media consumption has given rise to a thriving podcast industry which is expected to capture a $1 billion market share. Apple, Spotify, and even Facebook have launched their Podcasts service to compete for subscribers. Now, the Cupertino tech giant is working on introducing another audio media category, audiobooks service.
The tech giant already offers eBooks and third-party audiobooks compatible across devices. An ebook is a digital version of books that can be downloaded and read and an audiobook is a voice recording of the text of a book that users can listen to instead of reading on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or CarPlay.
A separate audiobooks service might offer subscribers exclusive content like the narration of popular books, interviews, and more from authors like its Podcasts Subscriptions and Channels service is separate from the Podcasts app.
To set itself apart from rivals, Apple will launch audiobooks later this year
In its new article “Just how big in media does Apple want to be”, The Economist writes that the Cupertino tech giant is always exploring new avenues and that keeps its competitors on its toes. And its new venture is going to be audiobooks coming out later this year.
Apple Music, launched in 2015, is the second-largest streamer after Spotify. Apple TV+, now two years old, is the fourth-largest video service outside China by the number of subscribers, according to Omdia, a data company.
In the past couple of years Apple has made smaller media bets including Arcade, a subscription gaming package, News+, a publishing bundle, and Fitness+, which offers video aerobics classes. There is talk of an audiobooks service later this year.
Recently, Wedbush analyst Danial Ives reported that the street value of Apple’s Services business is $1.5 trillion. He called the $3 trillion company‘s Services segment its “linchpin” and offers like Apple One bundles give consumers more reasons to opt for its products and enjoy multiple services at discounted prices. And this year, the company might include an exclusive audiobooks service to the One bundles.
