Ben Thompson: I was wrong about Apple Music
The opinionated Mr. Thompson is at his best when revising his opinions.
Reacting to Bloomberg’s Apple Puts Music Service on Amazon Echo in Subscription Push.
From Monday’s daily Stratechery post ($):
I’ll start with the mea culpa: I did not see this coming. Earlier this year I argued that Apple Music was for Apple a means, not an end. (Link to Apple’s Middle Age)
This announcement means this analysis was flat out wrong; that’s fine, it happens. Actually, it’s more than fine: being wrong is tremendously interesting, and I find this decision fascinating.
First, I think it is reasonable to assume that the HomePod is a flop. I should note that this statement is fueled by confirmation bias, because that means my analysis was right previously…
This is a decision that quite explicitly favors one of Apple’s services (Apple Music) over one of Apple’s hardware lines (the HomePod); that is a lot less like a services narrative and a lot more like a services strategy. It’s a shift that is not just fascinating, it’s frankly a bit stunning.
My take: The opinionated Mr. Thompson is at his best when revising his opinions.
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