Apple TV Plus, launching Friday, is the gadget giant’s subscription video service with original TV shows and movies for $5 a month. It’s Apple’s combatant in the so-called streaming wars, one of a crop of deep-pocketed tech and media companies pouring money into creating subscription video services to take on Netflix.
The streaming wars are kicking off at a time when Apple is looking to its services — iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and, yes, Apple TV Plus, for more of its growth.
The most important elements to Apple TV Plus’ success or failure won’t be its lineup of shows right out of the starting gate. “We can debate whether this is the best show ever or not,” Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed, said in an interview. “Where you start is very different from where you are four years later. It’s apparent to me that Apple is very serious about ramping far beyond the initial four, five, six shows.” Skeptics overlook Apple TV Plus’ reach, he said. Apple TV Plus will be at the fingertips of possibly hundreds of millions of people at no extra cost, Greenfield estimated… Beyond the free accounts, though, is Apple’s real competitive weapon: the more than 900 million active iPhones out in the wild.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, it’s simple math. When you spend the kind of money on content that Apple is spending, there will invariably be shows that hook viewers who are watching for free thanks to their new Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or iPod Touch who will sign up for Apple TV+ when their free year ends, especially if Apple smartly keeps it at $4.99/month for at least the first three years.