“Apple CEO Tim Cook explained why the company is making a big push into original TV programming on Tuesday’s earnings call,” Michelle Castillo reports for CNBC. “‘The cord cutting in our view is only going to accelerate and probably accelerate at a much faster rate than is widely thought,’ Cook said in a call with analysts on Tuesday.”
“Apple noticed its Apple TV units and revenue grew by “very strong double digits” during this past quarter, Cook said,” Castillo reports. “It also saw more third-party providers use Apple TV as its go-to-market device for their services, at a rate of around 100 percent year-over-year according to Cook.”
“Last August, Apple said it wanted to spend about $1 billion acquiring 10 TV shows. Since then, it signed deals with Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, and Sesame Workshop, among others,” Castillo reports. “‘We hired two highly-respected television executives last year and they have been here now for several months and have been working on a project that we’re not really ready to share all the details of it yet, but I couldn’t be more excited about what’s going on there,’ Cook said, potentially hinting at a rumored subscription content bundle. ‘And we’ve got great talent in the area that we’ve sourced from different places and feel really good about what we will eventually offer.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully to be unveiled along with some new hardare (Apple TV stick, anyone?) ASAP!
SEE ALSO:
Apple announces multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey – June 15, 2018
Apple inks content deal with Oprah Winfrey – June 15, 2018
Apple’s original content is further along than you think with 16 new shows in the works – June 15, 2018
Apple is close to a deal for an animated feature film – June 14, 2018
Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul join Apple’s upcoming drama ‘Are You Sleeping?’ – June 14, 2018
Apple nabs creative development executive Layne Eskridge from Netflix – June 12, 2018
Apple hires Broadway Video’s Kelly Costello as business affairs executive – June 12, 2018
‘Master’s of Sex’ star Lizzy Caplan joins cast of upcoming Apple series ‘Are You Sleeping’ – June 7, 2018
Apple TV: The underestimated story – June 5, 2018
‘Once Upon a Time’ co-creators sign on as showrunners for Steven Spielberg ‘Amazing Stories’ reboot for Apple – May 22, 2018
Apple inks deal for Isaac Asimov ‘Foundation’ TV series – April 10, 2018
Apple aiming original TV series launches for spring or summer 2019 – March 26, 2018
Is this Apple’s plan for Apple TV? – March 22, 2018
Apple orders animated comedy ‘Central Park’ from ‘Bob’s Burgers’ creator Loren Bouchard – March 12, 2018
Apple hires Carol Trussell as Head Of Production for Worldwide Video Programming division – February 22, 2018
Apple loses bidding war over J.J. Abrams sci-fi drama ‘Demimonde’ to HBO – February 2, 2018
Apple and HBO in bidding war for J.J. Abrams sci-fi drama series – January 17, 2018
Apple’s TV tactics: Can Cupertino figure out the television formula? – January 16, 2018
Apple orders ‘See’ series, a futuristic drama from ‘Hunger Games’ director – January 10, 2018
Life after iTunes: Apple’s big media challenge – January 9, 2018
Apple developing new original drama ‘Are You Sleeping’ starring Octavia Spencer – January 3, 2018
Three more Amazon Studios executives move to Apple – December 26, 2017
Apple orders space drama series from ‘Battlestar Galactica’ producer Ronald D. Moore – December 15, 2017
Apple gives Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon series a 2-season order, confirms Spielberg’s ‘Amazing Stories’ reboot – November 9, 2017
Apple outbids Netflix for show starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon – November 8, 2017
Apple eyes iconic studio as base for Hollywood production push; vying with Netflix for high-profile Jennifer Aniston drama – September 1, 2017
The magic and misdirection of Apple’s streaming strategy – August 18, 2017
Apple wants to spend $1 billion on 10 original TV shows over the next year – August 16, 2017
Former WGN America president Matt Cherniss joins Apple in latest TV push – August 15, 2017
Rivals leaving Apple behind as Apple TV remains stuck in a test pattern – August 8, 2017
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
That’s sad if you’d ceo is making decisions but can’t explain the reasoning behind said decisions…
Maybe that helps in explain why the Mac hardware lineup is mostly outdated…he doesn’t even have a clue himself.
Since when did Apple ever talk about forthcoming projects before they were nearing completion?
Neither did Steve Jobs ( with the notable exception of iPhone ).
Apple had to talk about the iPhone 6 months before, they had to submit and get approval from the FCC before they sell to the public.
Yes, that’s why it was the notable exception. Once iPhone was submitted to the FCC for approval, there was no way that Apple could have prevented details becoming public, so on that occasion it made sense to take control of events and announce it in advance.
I’m sure that if he had the option, Steve Jobs would have preferred to delay his iPhone announcement until they were ready to go on sale.
Not really.
FCC approval doesn’t require that all details are made public, and really the only details about the original iPhone that were made public by the FCC process were that “It’s a phone by Apple, it’s rectangular, and has a camera”. Nothing about its operating system was revealed, nothing about the display or really anything else (including the name) was revealed. Those details were all withheld by the FCC even after Apple had already unveiled the iPhone.
That Apple was releasing a phone was already widely known as component and assembly suppliers had already made announcements.
The FCC didn’t grant approval and release the sparse/meaningless details until mid-May.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/07/05/17/news_flash_apple_iphone_receives_fcc_approval
Jobs may have been influenced by the FCC being one more source of fueling speculation and wanted to get ahead of it, but the unveiling was also well timed to coincide to counter CES in Las Vegas and provide a fairly long period for roadshow/interviews/reviews/promotion.
After reading this, I still have no idea what Apple TV is or why Apple is producing their own content. Apple TV has zero value to me, particularly with Netflix around which runs on all devices including the Web. The idea of some “external black box” is dated… especially when it doesn’t serve as a gaming platform and only something to stream content.
With your head stuck deep up your ass, you don’t know where you are going either.
????? Apple TV and making content is were Apple is losing focus, content is low very low margin, software as in computer services is where the high margin money is.
Cook is more focused on pushing his homosexual and ‘LGBT’ (did I miss one?) Agenda than this company.
Apple was not always incremental in it’s production line, and occasionally pushed new tech in it’s lineup.
But the quality of its OS was always its saving grace. That, sadly, is so buggy at times it’s frustrating. Safari reloaded are almost comical and extends surfing times for just the few sites I bother to view. iTunes, I never bother to open because it’s interface is almost useless, with Music the most frustrating where before it was simple and intuitive. AppleTV is my most used device, but idiocentric behavior is at times exasperating. Dropped sound. Menu crashes. Non responsiveness.
Great, investors get their money’s worth. iPhone is unmatched – but only by the hair on its Chinny-chin-chin as hacks become more pervasive.
Apple just plain has lost its way, but my five figures investment in hardware/software and services forces me to stick around.
Repetitive and passive language:
“The cord cutting in our view is only going to accelerate and probably accelerate at a much faster rate than is widely thought,”
Should be:
“People are cutting the cord more and more.”
Cook should get someone else to elaborate; He should be succinct.
let us believe there’s a dream/vision behind the curtain. This is where Tim fits the mold of the ops-guy. He just doesn’t exude the vision that entices people to believe. Unfortunately, just wooden.
In spite of the headline, this explained nothing about why Apple are making original TV shows. Or are they just going after money from anywhere they can? Or did I miss something cos I’m tired at 1/4 to 2 in the morning?
If people want to see these shows, they need to buy Apple TV hardware. That might seal a sale over a competing product. If the users are on a cable service that offers Apple TV as an option for the set top box, this might close the deal. Folks who acquire Apple TV are more likely to buy iTunes videos, HomeKit devices, HomePods, and other products in the Apple ecosystem. It could mean a lot of money.
Perhaps I read between the lines too easily, but since folks are cutting cords, they are seeking new ways to find content. That’s where Apple’s new shows come in – they become not just the content provider, but the content creator, pushing their own content on their own “channel”.
Your suggestion is also open to criticism. “People are cutting the cord more and more.”
How many people cut the cord more than once?
I think that Cook’s original comment is a properly nuanced explanation of why he thinks there is more potential for Apple TV than many realise.
Don’t forget that during conference call he is talking to analysts who are looking for meaningful information. He is not producing sound bytes for consumption by tabloid newspapers.
“People are increasingly cutting the cord?” OK.
But the subtext is that Cook is using too many words, as if he has to carry his own water. I think he should not. He has to be the idea man, and rely on his CFO, Luca Maestri, to carry the water, to elaborate. “Luca oversees the accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury, M&A, investor relations, internal audit and tax functions at Apple.”
This is because being precise, to the point, and “Succinct, Persuasive” as *Yes, Succinct, Persuasive and* stated, would give Cook’s words more weight and people would hang on his every word. He gives too much away. Actors and artists know this phenomenon. It’s the difference between an artist/actor and a supporting actor/illustrator.
People gotta have something to do with iPads.
Exactly.
I borrowed an iPad Pro from my sister for an afternoon and tried to type a long e-mail and got gorilla arm from the keyboard.
The larger screen is certainly good for viewing movies and surfing the web. But I can do that on my iPhone SE.
For the clueless out there like Cook and Wrong Again, absolutely NO WAY an iPad can replace a Mac Pro …