Subscription Economy News – Week of 01/28/19

Every week, we bring you the top stories and analyses from the global Subscription Economy.

Car Companies Face ‘End of Ownership’ Crisis
Excerpts from an article by Jack R. Nerad in Forbes
Will “the end of ownership” threaten the world’s major car companies? Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo contends that consumers’ growing desire to be free of the hassle of owning things will force car companies to change their operations markedly…or face extinction.

The former Salesforce executive who authored the book Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future – and What to Do About It, says car manufacturers will be forced to pivot from building and marketing vehicles to becoming service providers offering transportation solutions. The alternative, he adds, is becoming manufacturing suppliers to the Ubers and Lyfts of the world who will offer the higher-margin transportation services.

Read the full article in Forbes

What’s driving Apple’s huge Services business?
Excerpts from an article by Stephanie Condon on ZDNet.com
Apple on Tuesday published its Q1 financial results, reporting that services revenue grew by 19 percent year-over-year to reach an all-time high of $10.9 billion. On a conference call Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri outlined the factors behind the growth of Apple’s Services business — and those constraining it.

In addition to posting Apple’s highest-ever global Services revenue, the company also had all-time records across multiple categories of Services, including the App Store, Apple Pay, cloud services and the App Store search ad business. Nearly 16 years after launching the iTunes Store, Apple generated its highest quarterly music revenue ever, thanks to the popularity of Apple Music, now with over 50 million paid subscribers.
Read the full article on ZDNet.com

What ‘Space-As-A-Service’ Could Mean For The Future Of Real Estate
Excerpts from an article by Lital Moram in Forbes
Tech developments are indicative of how the real estate business model will evolve. A new model will be founded on the notion of “space as a service.” We’ve already seen space as a service play out with firms like Airbnb, Common, WeWork and Clutter. They decouple the services you expect from real estate asset ownership but still monetize the physical space.

Businesses that can reimagine real estate can prove to be highly profitable. Last year there was $267 billion of aggregate public and private enterprise value in real estate technology companies. Airbnb has been valued higher than all hotel companies at $30 billion. The largest public owner of office buildings in the U.S., Boston Properties, has been valued significantly lower than WeWork ($19 billion against $30 billion).

Read the full article in Forbes

DC Universe to Double Comic Book Offerings for Subscribers
Excerpts from an article by Brandon Staley in CBR.com
DC Universe today announced a major expansion to its comic book library. The service will double the number of comic books on offer in its subscriber library by the end of March, including lauded titles like Batman: Hush, Flashpoint and Infinite Crisis, among others.

This is the first time DC Universe has expanded its comic book library since its launch in September of 2018. Since then, the service has steadily been adding comic book related media in the form of television shows like Titans and Young Justice: Outsiders. Series like Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing are still incoming.
Read the full article on CBR.com

For more Subscription Economy resources and events, head to www.subscribed.com

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