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Comment by ksec | Hacker News Reader

I actually have no problem with them being a 1-3, I just dont understand why they had to do 4 and 5.

Music was understandable given there are no Streaming Music alternative other than Spotify. ( But Apple Music still sucks after so many years, and barely caught on to Spotify ). But Making Apple Originals? Pouring Billions into it?

And Apple Card? Yes I think Banking and Finance will be there soon. If they have some sort of Apple Cash will minimal cash balance that doesn't require as much regulation as a bank, they will start with a potential 1 Billion customers. And then you have insurance, investment options....

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Apple Music is mostly a holdover from the decade of the iPod and iTunes Music Store. They already had a strong market position and it would have been capitalist suicide to abandon it wholesale. I don't agree that it sucks compared to Spotify, but it does cater to a different audience, preferring curation over algorithms.

Apple TV+ is indeed a curious one. Personally I think it's as simple as being a placeholder to allow Apple to make strategic choices in future, if they ever choose to compete aggressively with Netflix, Amazon etc.

I think the real weird one is finance. While Apple Pay is obvious, Apple Card is not. Banking is desperate for technological upheaval but many fintech start-ups are already doing a good job of this—at least in some countries like the UK.

I’m not trying to be an annoying nitpick, you bring up good points and I have just a few observations...

Apple Music curation. Has anyone been impressed by this? I found maybe 2-3 songs I didn’t already know about, over the course of at least a year. I was never impressed, even SiriusXM has more variety and relevancy. I think they blew the chance to really do something great.

AppleTV+ makes me feel fatigued. Yes to being a “curious one.”

Apple Card seems to me like Apple’s version of a co-branded airline card. As much as I like to dunk on Apple these days (I used to be a huge fan), Apple Card is something they executed really well on. I’d like to give props to the Apple Pay/Card team. I think they’re doing a great job here and have a solid foundation for wherever they take this. That said I have a hard time imagining using Apple for all my transactions and balances, especially with the callous way they seem to behave lately. But you never know.

Not an annoying nitpick at all. Different perspectives are enlightening.

No, I haven’t been impressed by Apple Music curation. But I haven’t been impressed with Spotify recommendations either. I dare say that the best approach will require equal parts algorithm and curation.

As for Apple Card, that probably makes more sense in the USA where having many credit cards under different guises is commonplace. In Australia, store cards are relatively uncommon; I would suspect that a majority of people only have cards issued by their bank of choice.

The Apple Card isn’t really what’s classically called a store card to me (along the line of a Kohl’s or Sears card). To me, it’s more similar to a top tier airline rewards/cash back card.

Well Apple Music didn't start with human curation. It started with the magic "next song" algorithm from the original Beats. [1] ( Which I am still pissed off about ). Basically the whole Apple Music, still as it is today is designed around Discovery. ( Edit: You can tell by its UI design evolution over the years, how it subtly changes. No Bookmark artist button, no back button.. etc ) Whether it was the original "Next Song", or curated playlist, or Beats Radio. Apple wants people to discover new music. ( Which is actually a noble Goal ) The problem is large percentage of people dont discover Music on Apple Music, it was mostly though other media, offline playing ( where Shazam comes in ) or people just want to listen to old music. In that what people want is a Distribution Point.

For English Speaking Countries Apple Music seems to be doing OK for that curation and Discovery. Especially in US. Elsewhere the same formula hasn't worked at all. [2]

Consider Apple has 1 Billion iPhone users, compared to 2.5B Android ( Excluding China ), with App Spending power 4 times the average of Android users. And Apple Music, after 5 years, with it being default on iOS ecosystem, still does not have half the paying users as Spotify is saying something.

That is not to say Spotify is perfect ( Far from it ).

Note: But it didn't matter much because Music Streaming Services is a Net Zero Profit Margin Business.

[1] https://www.cnet.com/news/beats-curated-music-service-headin...

[2] https://atadistance.net/2018/02/04/homepod-and-the-apple-mus...

> Apple TV+ is indeed a curious one.

It makes the Apple One bundles seem larger than they actually are.

Pandora is still around and is still superior as a radio station, they just don’t have the variety Spotify does but their algorithm is better

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