Apple's subscription bundle of news, music and services to launch Friday

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - Apple One, the bundle of Apple Inc's <AAPL.O> paid online services, will launch on Friday, Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview.

The bundle varies by geography but generally combines Apple's news, music, video and cloud storage offerings, putting it in fiercer competition with music rivals such as Spotify Technology SA <SPOT.N> and television content rivals Netflix Inc <NFLX.O>, Walt Disney Co <DIS.N> and AT&T Inc's <T.N> HBO. Apple in September also announced a paid fitness service called Apple Fitness+ that competes for the first time with some elements of Peloton Interactive Inc's <PTON.O> offerings.

"We're on target to launch Apple Fitness+ later in the year," Cook told Reuters on Thursday.

Cook on Thursday also said Apple now has 585 million subscribers on its platforms, up from 550 million the previous quarter.

"We are now very confident that we're going to not only reach but exceed our target of over 600 million for the calendar year," Cook told Reuters.

Apple also reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Services revenue rose 16.3% to $14.5 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $14 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The Apple One bundle will cost $15 per month for an individual plan or $20 per month for a family plan and include television, music and games. Apple is also offering a bundle for $30 per month that adds news, the fitness service and more storage.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)