• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, October 9, 2020

Apple TV+ is extending its one-year free trial for some subscriptions

When the Apple TV+ streamer launched last November 1, Apple priced the service at $4.99 per month following a seven-day trial, but also offered the one-year-free trial with the purchase of any iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod Touch or Mac.

The move was designed to boost the slowing growth of Apple’s device sales, as well as jumpstart adoption of the new SVOD.

Some of the free-year trial subscriptions were to begin expiring in November. Now, any that would have expired between November and the end of January 2021 will not start being billed the $4.99 per month for three more months beyond their original expiration dates.

Apple has yet to reveal how many paid or trial subscriptions Apple TV+ has amassed since launch.

Apple TV+’s $4.99 pricing is the same as that for Disney’s ESPN+, but lower than most of the other new and established SVOD competitors.

While it launched with a handful of costly, generally well-regarded series, including the Reese Witherspoon vehicle “The Morning Show,” Apple TV+ lacks the extensive content libraries of Netflix and other leaders.

“Apple TV+ is a pretty good deal if you like more than one of the shows available on the platform,” Gizmodo wrote last November. “But so far, Apple’s lineup is only okay, the TV app user interface is confusing, and its recommendation algorithm might give you more privacy but seriously hampers usability. What’s worse is, sometimes it feels like Apple is sacrificing its anti-ads bona fides just to put mediocre TV in front of you.”

When more than 1,200 streaming consumers were asked to compare various leading SVODs in a survey conducted this past August by tech company Flixed, Apple TV+ ranked last in quality of content, amount of variety and user-friendliness of its interface. It also ranked last in user satisfaction overall.