Apple writes about how its Services segment fared in 2021

In a story written by Apple itself, the company today revealed how its Services unit fared in 2021. This is the business segment that Apple started to rely on after iPhone shipments peaked in 2015 and with the number of active iPhone units worldwide now at 1 billion, Apple decided to focus on offering Services, many with recurring subscription plans such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, Apple Arcade, and others.

This was a brilliant strategy and here's why. If Apple can't sell an iPhone user a new iPhone, it can still get him/her hooked on Apple Music, or Apple News. And with one billion iPhones still being used, the odds are that Apple is going to earn plenty of recurring income each month. And this doesn't include Services such as Apple Pay from which Apple takes a small percentage of the amount of a transaction being paid for with the service.

Apple created a goal in fiscal 2017 of reaching $50 billion in Services revenue by fiscal 2020. It was a goal that Apple took seriously and not only did it hit the target, by fiscal 2021 Apple generated $68 billion in Services revenue.

For calendar 2021, the top paid app in the App Store was Procreate Pocket, an app that allows users to sketch and paint on iPhone handsets. That was followed by HotSchedules (a business app), The Wonder Weeks, TouchRetouch, and Facetune. The top five paid games in the App Store included Minecraft, Heads Up!, Bloons TD 6, Monopoly, and Geometry Dash.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services said, "Apple's world-class portfolio of services proved essential in 2021, as people worldwide sought new ways to keep entertained, informed, connected, and inspired. With over 745 million paid subscriptions, Apple continues to connect the world's developers, artists, and storytellers with users across more than a billion devices, delivering powerful tools, content, and experiences that enrich their lives in profound ways every day."

Apple Music had a big year in 2021 with 90 million tunes now available to stream in lossless audio. Spatial audio allows music to be delivered in that 3D space around the listener's head. Music sounds like it is coming from the front, the back, and the sides of the user. Other new features added to Apple Music this past year included autoplay, lyrics share, city charts (featuring the top songs in 100 cities), motion cover art, enhanced search, Shared with You (which bundles together content sent to you by your contacts), and the revised Listen Now tab.

Apple says that its Apple News app has been the number one news app in every market where it is available. Apple Pay added nine new markets including Colombia, Israel, and Mexico. Apple says that the mobile payment platform is available in approximately 60 countries and regions, and has 9,000 bank partners worldwide.

Apple Wallet in 2021 added the ability to store COVID-19 vaccination cards in the secure digital wallet and in 200 cities worldwide, tapping an iPhone or Apple Watch will allow commuters to pay for their train and bus fare. And college students can digitally store their campus identification on their wallet apps.

Continuing to rise from the ashes of a horrible release, Apple Maps added amazingly detailed 3D maps, "custom-designed landmarks, and a beautiful nighttime mode with a moonlit glow that activates at dusk." These detailed "City Experience" maps are available to iPhone and CarPlay users in London, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Later this year these maps will also be available in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

And lastly, in 2021 Apple One became available in more locations. These plans bundle popular Apple Services into one monthly payment. For example, the Individual Plan offers Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of Apple iCloud+ for $14.95 per month saving users $6 per month. The Family Plan offers the same services albeit with a bit more iCloud storage (200GB) for $19.95 per month saving subscribers $8 monthly.

And for $29.95 each month, the Premier Plan comes with Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, 2TB of Apple iCloud+, News+, and Fitness+. This plan saves the subscriber a whopping $25 per month.