Could Apple soon add to its already broad services portfolio with an audiobooks offering? That seems to be a possibility set out by a report from The Economist, which threw in a single-line mention of the prospect of such a service, without elaborating.
The article in question, entitled “Just how big in media does Apple want to be?”, listed existing Apple services including Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple Fitness, describing them as “smaller media bets” that the Cupertino company has made in recent years. But the report then adds: “There is talk of an audiobooks service later this year.”
As the publication does not go into more detail about any such audiobooks platform beyond that quick mention, it is unclear what The Economist’s source is for this information, or what form such a service from Apple could take.
Apple does sell audiobooks already through the Apple Books app. However, these books are sold purely on a one-off basis, with no option for unlimited listening. So, it will be fascinating to see whether an Apple audiobooks service of a different nature does come to pass during 2022.