At the latest Apple event, the two chips M1 Pro and M1 Max weren’t the only novelty. The Cupertino company also presented the third generation AirPods and new colored HomePod Mini. Among the news dedicated to music there is also the new Apple Music Voice Plan, an additional plan from € 4.99 per month for the Apple streaming service. The difference with the traditional piano is that the music can only be played through the voice commands given to Siri
I must admit it took me a while to understand the meaning of this new subscription. The price is certainly aggressive, but how many people who want to save on the standard Apple Music plans (€ 9.99, or € 14.99 for the family version) will be willing to use only Siri? The more I think about it, the more I feel that the Voice plan has to do with increasing Apple Music use in the home and in the car and therefore with our addiction to Siri. After all, it wouldn’t always be practical and convenient to use your voice to ask Siri to play what we want when we’re out and about.
Is the new Voice Plan something for which there is already a demand from consumers? Not really, but from Apple’s point of view it makes a lot of sense. The timing is perfect: the launch coincides with the expansion of the availability of the HomePod Mini to more countries in Europe. The models of various additional colors also allow it to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot.
Europe is also the strongest market for Spotify, whose support for AirPlay allows users to play music on Apple devices without paying for the Apple Music subscription. The native integration, however, removes various obstacles for the user and unlocks access to superior audio quality. At € 4.99 per month, the Voice Plane is more attractive than Spotify Premium, which costs at least € 9.99.
And still with a view to eliminating barriers to signing up, users can now sign up for Apple’s voice plan by simply asking Siri, “Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial.” The other option is to sign up through the Apple Music app.
Apple has a similar problem in homes in the US, but the competition here is Amazon and Echo devices. The new plan helps Apple compete with the new Amazon Music Echo plan, which similarly allows users to ask Alexa to play songs for a monthly subscription of just $ 3.99. Unlike Apple’s plan, Amazon limits its service to just one Echo or Fire TV device.
OK, you say, but Siri? While the voice assistant continues to lag behind Alexa and Google Assistant in overall performance, it does quite well with music. Apple said it has added hundreds of new playlists linked to a specific mood or activity that users can easily access with commands such as: “Siri play relaxing music” or “Siri play party music”. Furthermore, the correct and repeated execution of specific voice commands could also help increase user satisfaction in using the Apple voice assistant.
Third generation AirPods
The new Apple Music Voice plan also works with AirPods, referred to in the “Unleashed” event, Apple presented the third generation. The updated version of the most popular model of Apple’s earphones has a new design, a battery that lasts longer and two features that will make the most significant difference for consumers: wireless charging and Spatial Audio.
Spatial Audio, in a nutshell, is Apple’s version of surround sound with head motion tracking. The feature creates a very immersive experience when watching movies, listening to music or playing games. Many think that active noise cancellation is the real defining feature in True Wireless headphones, while I believe that Spatial Audio generates greater consumer attachment to AirPods and greater average user satisfaction.
Apple always pays close attention to the features to scale towards products that cost less, and are always the ones that offer the best return in terms of user satisfaction. ANC is certainly useful for many, but it doesn’t generate the same wow effect as Spatial Audio in consumers. Apple also invests in features that will pay off in the future. The rumors about the launch of a set of AR glasses in 2022 become quite insistent: Spatial Audio is a function that perfectly completes that future experience.
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