Apple's services event receives rocky reception from industry and critics
Much of the criticism of Apple's event was focused on how it actually told us very little. Yet even with a "charm-and-dazzle" show, there was enough to get critics and analysts examining the good and the bad of what Apple is planning.
Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey at the March 25 event
Maybe there are other companies that can get the world to turn up to its TV launch, but only Apple could do it and then not tell us anything. AppleInsider described the event as "less what the company would usually call a keynote and much more what television networks call the upfronts."
The New York Times said the same thing. "Despite the disruptive effect Apple promises to have on the entertainment industry, the company followed an old script," it said (behind a pay wall). "While the presentation was something new for Apple, it was familiar to the audience members from Los Angeles. That's because what they were seeing was essentially an upfront presentation."
The Hollywood Reporter believes that Apple has set its sights on the existing cable providers instead of streaming rivals. "The tech giant's content push signals an intent to dethrone Comcast, not Netflix," it said, "as consumers increasingly cut the cord on traditional pay television."
Detail from The Hollywood Reporter's coverage of Apple's event
The same publication recognized that Disney is about to unveil its own offering and suggested that Apple may not have want to given details that would help its rival. "But the absence of concrete information gave the appearance that executives are still searching for a strategy," said The Hollywood Reporter.
Outside the US, Britain's The Guardian wasn't kind. "In true Cook style," said the paper, "the fun stuff was preceded by an hour-long infomercial for Apple's other subscription services, which the CEO introduced by reading out a dictionary definition of 'services.'"
The Guardian also raised a point of difference between Apple and previous streaming launches. "While Netflix and Amazon started out with boundary-pushing shows such as 'Orange is the New Black' and 'Transparent,' Cook has reportedly brought his dad-ish sensibilities to running a studio, putting the kibosh on sex, violence and profanity."
Buffet seems to have missed Apple's repeated failure to make a music social media platform.
Also speaking out and also apparent missing something was AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson. He talked about all the streaming media work that the AT&T-owned WarnerMedia is doing and implied that in every case, the company would be getting data about the end user, the viewer.
AT&T chief Randall Stephenson
When pressed about whether that included the firm's arrangement with Apple, he couldn't bring himself to simply say yes. "Just pick the [service] you want to pick, we will have access to data," he said instead. "It's critical to everything we're trying to do."
It's also seemingly opposite to what Apple is trying to do with privacy. "The Apple TV app delivers on all these principles, including our commitment that we won't share your personal information with anyone," said Apple's Peter Stern during the March 25 presentation.
Similarly, Roku's CEO Anthony Wood said that Apple TV+ had to go on smart TVs and rival platforms in oder to get enough viewers to be worth doing. "Obviously, they're counting on jump-starting [the streaming service] with all of their iPhone and iPad and Mac customers, but actually smart TVs are the way that most streaming services, long-form streaming services are viewed by customers," said Wood. "That's where they spend most of their hours, and so for any kind of service like that to be successful you want to be on the leading streaming TV platforms."
He's not wrong, but he's positioning Roku as a competitor by trying to diminish the the entire iOS platform. "They're in a billion pockets, y'all," said Oprah Winfrey at the launch.
Apple is bringing the service to smart TVs but it's also bringing it to older versions of its own. This week Apple confirmed that its new TV app would be appearing on third-generation Apple TV boxes too.
It's going to be a revamped and improved Apple TV app, and we've now seen evidence of that with the latest beta releases of iOS.
Goldman Sachs is partnering with Apple on this new credit card, but obviously that company does a lot more in the financial field -- and it turns out that this includes analysis. The firm's Rod Hall issued a report predicting "little impact" from Apple's video, news and games services.
True, this is a prediction from an analyst who in the same report said that Apple's new services were "materially different than we had anticipated." That might be worth bearing in mind when Hall goes on to dismiss what Apple's doing.
"Though all of these services are interesting from a platform churn point of view none seem likely on our calculations to materially impact EPS [earnings per share] in the short term, with the possible exception of Apple Arcade pending pricing and service details," said Hall.
"With small calculated impacts from these 'Other services,' we expect the focus to return to the slowing iPhone business post this event," he concluded.
Tim Cook introduces Apple Card
Hall did not mention Apple card at all. However, Goldman Sachs Inernational's CEO Richard Gnodde did. "We do think [Apple Card] will catch on quickly, absolutely," he said. "It's got a great brand attached to it, obviously, and a remarkable organization. Together in partnership, we think we can achieve great things."
However, it wasn't optimistic about the future of gaming under these services. "In the short term, the dispiriting prospect for gamers is a range of competing services, all with a few exclusive games we might want to play, all demanding a monthly subscription," it said. "Amazon appears poised to announce its own service soon, having spent years investing in games industry talent."
AppleInsider took apart the service's offerings and examined whether Apple News+ is actually worth subscribing to. Not to spoil how we calculated this or quite why we think it, but the answer is yes.
Reducing Apple's presentation to a crude list, it was about News, TV, Games and a credit card. Only one of these four is actually available now but it gets a big tick. Here's hoping the rest work out as well.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey at the March 25 event
Maybe there are other companies that can get the world to turn up to its TV launch, but only Apple could do it and then not tell us anything. AppleInsider described the event as "less what the company would usually call a keynote and much more what television networks call the upfronts."
The New York Times said the same thing. "Despite the disruptive effect Apple promises to have on the entertainment industry, the company followed an old script," it said (behind a pay wall). "While the presentation was something new for Apple, it was familiar to the audience members from Los Angeles. That's because what they were seeing was essentially an upfront presentation."
First responders
After explaining that the upfronts "are a decades-old convention in the television business," the New York Times summed up the event as "charm-and-dazzle." And, the publication noted that the Hollywood people in the audience had all recognized an issue. "It was not lost on them that... many of the stars on display were not exclusive to Apple" said the Times.The Hollywood Reporter believes that Apple has set its sights on the existing cable providers instead of streaming rivals. "The tech giant's content push signals an intent to dethrone Comcast, not Netflix," it said, "as consumers increasingly cut the cord on traditional pay television."
Detail from The Hollywood Reporter's coverage of Apple's event
The same publication recognized that Disney is about to unveil its own offering and suggested that Apple may not have want to given details that would help its rival. "But the absence of concrete information gave the appearance that executives are still searching for a strategy," said The Hollywood Reporter.
Outside the US, Britain's The Guardian wasn't kind. "In true Cook style," said the paper, "the fun stuff was preceded by an hour-long infomercial for Apple's other subscription services, which the CEO introduced by reading out a dictionary definition of 'services.'"
The Guardian also raised a point of difference between Apple and previous streaming launches. "While Netflix and Amazon started out with boundary-pushing shows such as 'Orange is the New Black' and 'Transparent,' Cook has reportedly brought his dad-ish sensibilities to running a studio, putting the kibosh on sex, violence and profanity."
As the week continued
As AppleInsider looked to the long game that Apple seems to be playing, others including influential investor Warren Buffet also thought more about the future. "I'd love to see them succeed," he said, "but that's a company that can afford a mistake or two. You wouldn't want to buy stock in the company that has to do everything right. Apple should do some things that don't work."Buffet seems to have missed Apple's repeated failure to make a music social media platform.
Also speaking out and also apparent missing something was AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson. He talked about all the streaming media work that the AT&T-owned WarnerMedia is doing and implied that in every case, the company would be getting data about the end user, the viewer.
AT&T chief Randall Stephenson
When pressed about whether that included the firm's arrangement with Apple, he couldn't bring himself to simply say yes. "Just pick the [service] you want to pick, we will have access to data," he said instead. "It's critical to everything we're trying to do."
It's also seemingly opposite to what Apple is trying to do with privacy. "The Apple TV app delivers on all these principles, including our commitment that we won't share your personal information with anyone," said Apple's Peter Stern during the March 25 presentation.
Similarly, Roku's CEO Anthony Wood said that Apple TV+ had to go on smart TVs and rival platforms in oder to get enough viewers to be worth doing. "Obviously, they're counting on jump-starting [the streaming service] with all of their iPhone and iPad and Mac customers, but actually smart TVs are the way that most streaming services, long-form streaming services are viewed by customers," said Wood. "That's where they spend most of their hours, and so for any kind of service like that to be successful you want to be on the leading streaming TV platforms."
He's not wrong, but he's positioning Roku as a competitor by trying to diminish the the entire iOS platform. "They're in a billion pockets, y'all," said Oprah Winfrey at the launch.
Apple is bringing the service to smart TVs but it's also bringing it to older versions of its own. This week Apple confirmed that its new TV app would be appearing on third-generation Apple TV boxes too.
It's going to be a revamped and improved Apple TV app, and we've now seen evidence of that with the latest beta releases of iOS.
Cards on the table
If we have learned only a little more about Apple TV+ since the event, we've gathered much more about the Apple Card and its partner.Goldman Sachs is partnering with Apple on this new credit card, but obviously that company does a lot more in the financial field -- and it turns out that this includes analysis. The firm's Rod Hall issued a report predicting "little impact" from Apple's video, news and games services.
True, this is a prediction from an analyst who in the same report said that Apple's new services were "materially different than we had anticipated." That might be worth bearing in mind when Hall goes on to dismiss what Apple's doing.
"Though all of these services are interesting from a platform churn point of view none seem likely on our calculations to materially impact EPS [earnings per share] in the short term, with the possible exception of Apple Arcade pending pricing and service details," said Hall.
"With small calculated impacts from these 'Other services,' we expect the focus to return to the slowing iPhone business post this event," he concluded.
Tim Cook introduces Apple Card
Hall did not mention Apple card at all. However, Goldman Sachs Inernational's CEO Richard Gnodde did. "We do think [Apple Card] will catch on quickly, absolutely," he said. "It's got a great brand attached to it, obviously, and a remarkable organization. Together in partnership, we think we can achieve great things."
Apple Arcade
The Guardian contrasted Apple's Arcade games subscription with the recently announced Google Stadia and on balance rated Apple's higher.However, it wasn't optimistic about the future of gaming under these services. "In the short term, the dispiriting prospect for gamers is a range of competing services, all with a few exclusive games we might want to play, all demanding a monthly subscription," it said. "Amazon appears poised to announce its own service soon, having spent years investing in games industry talent."
News on the March
Apple News+, the sole actual launch at the event, is now available to users in the USA and that means both informed opinions -- and bugs. As soon as Apple News+ rolled out, people found that it had some bugs, but Apple fixed them.AppleInsider took apart the service's offerings and examined whether Apple News+ is actually worth subscribing to. Not to spoil how we calculated this or quite why we think it, but the answer is yes.
Reducing Apple's presentation to a crude list, it was about News, TV, Games and a credit card. Only one of these four is actually available now but it gets a big tick. Here's hoping the rest work out as well.
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
Maybe I could subscribe for 3-4 months a year...
Apple Card is definitely to get. Arcade sounds interesting and I could subscribe for 5-6 months a year provided it’s not too expensive. Only TV+ that I have the most doubt.
Health, Edu, Video, TV, Shows, Drama, News, Real Estate, Media, Fitness, Fashion, Environment, Radio, Automotive, Cartography Music, ...
Cook thinks he’s the champ of everything but is now being defeated at his homeground before even having started elsewhere.
Someone needs to interfere, urgently
As far as TV, Apple isn't trying to keep you from watching all the sex, violence, gore, etc., stuff to your hearts content. (No one has ever complained that there isn't enough porn available on the web). And through Apple TV you can subscribe to all the mature content you want with HBO, etc. You somehow think Apple, like Disney, can't decide that it doesn't want its brand associated with certain types of content.
You also are arguing that Apple's assembling of the top talent in the business in writers, producers, top directors, top actors, etc., who have developed many of the most successful shows and movies will fail because their talent is limited to having to make sure they include enough graphic violence and sex or no one is interested in watching what they come up with. WOW.
You must not follow Apple very carefully. Apple isn't interested in dominating any markets. They are interested in producing quality products and services that appeal to their customers. Sometimes what they produce is so compelling that they can't help but become dominant, e.g., iPad, Apple Watch, iTunes Music, iPad, iMac, Wireless headphones, etc., but that's not what they set out to do.
You are all wrapped around the axle over Apple TV. Relax. Apple isn't interested in dominating that market, and no one can. Streaming TV, movies and other content is almost a "commoditized" product in the sense that they are all competing for the same group of actors, producers, writers, etc., and there is already much more available than consumers can watch. That means consumers will have quality shows they like on multiple services; hence they will choose largely on price which constrains them all, or in Apple's case convenience and privacy. That means Netflix, which is a one trick pony, is actually in a precarious spot as it is now bidding against Disney, Apple, Amazon, Sony, Google, Hulu, etc., which have deeper pockets and multiple revenue streams.
Apple TV is already a great success and is even better with this announcement. It assembles everything (even Netflix as far as searching) in one nice interface, that protects your privacy like no one else. Apple TV + will piggy back on this ever growing user base of tens of millions of people. It's a small part of the bigger package of all the TV channels. Apple doesn't plan on, nor does it have to "dominate" the market. It will be designed to make the famous Apple ecosystem even more valuable.
If it helps to understand, think about Apple News and Apple News +. Despite all the naysayers who said Apple was late to news market and had nothing to offer, Apple News has quickly grown to the biggest in the world, with about 100 million regular monthly users. Apple didn't set out to "dominate" the market for news; they just wanted to offer another service to Apple customers that protected our privacy and did a better (still imperfect) job presenting news. Apple News Plus won't appeal to everyone, but is another value add that tens of millions of Apple customers will enjoy.
This event concerns me. No buzz. Multiple subscription services announced with scant details. Why the F would I pay for news I’ve gotten for free for 20 years? I have Netflix. And Prime. I don’t even use Music, and I’m a musician. AppleTV+? No details, no talk of a deep content library. Hopefully they get it right.
Yes, exactly. If you have a lot of money and a lack of original ideas, you buy a bunch of star power to promote your product. Oprah and Spielberg and Aniston are all past their prime. Popular, but safe, boring, and not likely to do anything new or interesting. I'm not saying Apple can't make wholesome family shows, but Tim needs to stop pushing his personal values on the company and the rest of us. Jobs was great because he was a bellwether. He had an instinct for cool new things, and in clever, usable products. Cook has no sense for what people want, and is just pushing his own agenda and milking the already profitable products.
Now Apple is starting a TV network with carefully curated content. No controversial subjects will be allowed. Nothing that will really challenge our deeply held beliefs. Nothing that anyone anywhere will consider offensive. No real risk taking. We can expect some shows to pass Apple's muster at first but later be pulled when they accidentally trip over a subject that is suddenly controversial or Apple takes a dislike to. That is what Apple does on its App Store. God help the producers if any of their talent do anything to upset Apple's sensibilities at any point in the future.
Plain vanilla, white washed good time rock and roll BS. Speaking of BS, do you think that show would appear on Apple's TV+? I think not.
Financially, Apple Music can only exist by means of massive cross-subsidization (staff, offices, licenses, fees, server- and bandwidth cost being covered by the holding (ref. Jim Iovine’s grievance about Apple’s streaming business’ non-profitability).
Thereby essentially killing the level playing field for Spotify/Tidal and the likes. The same is happening to News(+) already.
This cut-off strategy towards these, now leading to law-suits and possibly market regulation forcing them to split up their streaming activities. It demonstates their dominating ambitions, with frequent comparions and references to number of subs vs. direct competitors - big numbers, yet deprivingly small related to the huge preinstallled app base. But Tim will meticuously keep hiding costs - to always cry victory.
I don’t see (yet) how that “domination at any cost “-attitude and monetizing their platform/cross-subsidization advantage is going to be different in News/Video/other area’s, but feel free to remind me by then.
This might be a surprise to you but not everyone wants or needs content that's filled with sexual content, porn, killing, fighting, political, offensiveness and corrupt nonsense.
" God help the producers if any of their talent do anything to upset Apple's sensibilities at any point in the future."
God help you.
But in Apple's defense, of course the movie/tv industry will be skeptical. Apple is a competitor that is now encroaching in on their turf.
Overall, I thought that the event was decent. Apple's events are more slick, smoother and trouble free than in the past.
But, many of the things mentioned were without details, so I will hold off judgement until we find out more info, such as pricing etc. For subscription services, the monthly pricing is obviously a crucial detail.
How much is Apple Arcade going to cost? What about the TV/movie services? What exactly will they be offering?
I guess that we will find out this fall sometime.
For me, the best part of the event was the Apple Card. Nobody was expecting that, and it's technically a new piece of Apple hardware I guess, and it doesn't cost anything, so I'll be grabbing one of those for sure.
Is Apple spreading itself too thin, will other products / services suffer with the sheer magnitude and cost of competing in this space? Only time will tell. I just hope it’s not an embarrassing non starter. I hope it works, I hope Apple brings quality providers like the BBC to its service.
The Card maybe. Why not be the best platform on which to watch the myriad existing services, rather than try to “me too” everything. Just be better than everyone else for the creation, production and delivery of others’ content. You know, what Apple was once the best at.
Mainly, it seems to be resulting in a lack of focus as Apple tries to jump into multiple existing puddles. Could it be the glacial performance in Mac development is because every thought is turned towards milking the existing user base rather than making hardware great again?
Or more accurately: making good products to make great profits; rather than good profits to make great products. Turns out, that difference can be everything.
Indeed, the last few events have been mostly ‘meh’.