On Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty made it clear to the world that she expects something big – and soon – from Apple.
Despite AAPL’s recent slump on Wall Street, big things are in the pipeline, Huberty speculates.
According to a note issued to investors Thursday, Huberty’s latest comments come after her recent insightful meetings with Apple management.
Huberty suggests that Apple may use it’s June 2013 Worldwide Developer Conference to unveil refreshes of iOS and Mac OS X. But she also raised the prospect of several new services, which may include streaming music or even mobile payments.
“From our recent meetings with management, we believe Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of Internet Software and Services, is working hard to improve Apple’s existing Internet-based services, such as iCloud and Maps, and at the same time planning to launch new services,” Huberty wrote Thursday.
We believe Apple could charge either developers or users for some of these services, which could boost Apple’s annuitized revenue stream and better monetize its large user base. For example, Apple could offer a streaming music service using a freemium model. Users could listen for free with advertisements, or pay monthly or annually to listen without advertisements and with potential access to more features.
Interestingly, Huberty closed with a prediction that Apple could release a “killer app” that may introduce a groundbreaking service or feature on the scale of Siri.
