Rivals leaving Apple behind as Apple TV remains stuck in a test pattern

“Since well before Steve Jobs died in 2011, Apple executives have been saying TV entertainment needed a wholesale reinvention and Apple was just the company to do it,” Shira Ovide reports for Bloomberg. “Fast forward to 2017, and America’s entertainment is being reinvented. But Apple is barely involved… Perhaps the most surprising thing is Apple doesn’t seem to have a vision for what it wants to do in entertainment even after all these years. This is emblematic of Apple’s waning ability to invent the future.”

“To see how far Apple hasn’t come, it helps to flash back to just after Tim Cook became CEO. He dropped hint after hint that the company was working on something big in television. ‘Many people would say this is an area in their life they’re not really pleased with … the whole TV experience,’ he said in a 2012 interview. ‘This is an area of intense interest for us,'” Ovide reports. “Five years later, Cook is still proclaiming great interest in shaking up entertainment, but he doesn’t have much to show for it. Here’s what Cook said last week when he was asked about Apple’s position in television and Apple’s recent debuts of TV-like web video programming. ‘We’ll see how this goes, but it is still an area of great interest,’ he said. His rhetoric is getting stale.”

“Eddy Cue, the Apple executive in charge of digital media, recently said Apple was trying to ‘do some different things’ in entertainment. But it hardly seems that way,” Ovide reports. “After 10 years, Apple TV is pretty much the same. Meanwhile Amazon, Google and others are leading the way in revamping how people interact with TV sets by speaking to them or mixing live television programs with libraries of older shows and movies.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s plainly evident and very, very simple: The Apple executive in charge of digital media is the wrong guy for the job.

Tim Cook still seems to be unable to do what needed to be done years ago; affixing bandaids where excision is required.

Eddy Cue
Eddy Cue
Eddy Cue. Can’t get the deals done. Can’t recognize blatantly bad TV from the pilot, much less at the pitch stage. Puts TV content into “Apple Music.” Needs Tim Cook to hire people who can actually do his job (first Jimmy Iovine, now Erlicht and Van Amburg). Inexplicably continues to get paid tens of millions per year. Boy, the photos Cue possesses must be doozies!

Apple’s so-called TV ‘strategy’ continues to be an embarrassing joke because it’s run by an embarrassing joke.MacDailyNews, June 30, 2017

It’s quite possible that without Steve Jobs’ help, Eddy Cue couldn’t get ink in a stationery store.MacDailyNews, November 5, 2015

We’re embarrassed for Apple, but, don’t forget what Tim Cook told us last fall, “And now, with the TV app, there’s really no reason to watch TV anywhere else.”

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! No, seriou… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thanks for the laugh, Tim! — MacDailyNews, February 16, 2017

One more time: Which Apple VP is in charge of Apple TV among other chronically glitch-prone services that are uniformly saddled with Microsoftian UIs?

Therein Apple’s problem lies.

A jovial, fun-loving nature wrapped in unbuttoned shirts is no substitute for execution, quality, taste, and signed contracts, Tim.

Beloved by all, yet failing the company. It’s a conundrum that needs to be solved.MacDailyNews, November 3, 2016

SEE ALSO:
Apple’s so-called TV ‘strategy’ continues to be an embarrassing joke – June 30, 2017
Apple poaches Sony TV executives to lead major push into original content – June 16, 2017
Hulu and NBCUniversal ink expansive agreement to bring top channels to Hulu’s upcoming live TV streaming service – May 1, 2017
YouTube to unveil virtual cable bundle for $30 to $40 a month – February 28, 2017
Stalled talks with Ron Howard highlight Apple’s content confusion – February 16, 2017
Apple vowed to revolutionize television; currently prepping an unremarkable 4K Apple TV instead – February 16, 2017
Apple TV: Still not ready for prime time – February 15, 2017
Apple hires Amazon’s Fire TV head to run Apple TV business – February 8, 2017
Apple’s new TV app shows just how painfully behind Apple is – December 14, 2016
Are you ready for 4K TV? Apple TV isn’t. – November 28, 2016
Apple has no idea what they’re doing in the TV space, and it’s embarrassing – November 3, 2016
Hulu inks deals with Fox and Disney, adding ESPN, Fox News and more to forthcoming live service – November 1, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue: Nope, we don’t want to be Netflix – October 20, 2016
Google signs up CBS for planned web TV service to debut in early 2017; close to deal with 21st Century Fox – October 20, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue: Nope, we don’t want to be Netflix – October 20, 2016
Apple’s Eddy Cue alienated cable providers and networks with an assertive negotiating style – report – July 28, 2016
Here comes á la carte programming – without Apple – July 13, 2016
Apple TV 4 is a beta product and, if you bought one, you’re an unpaid beta tester – November 5, 2015

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