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In 2011, Steve Jobs had told his biographer that Apple had "finally perfected" a winning formula for television. Eight years later, his successor, Tim Cook, is still trying to win a place in the living room of his customers.
For more than a decade, Apple has had the idea of creating its own TVs and cable companies for various types of software integration and bundled services.
After several false starts, Apple is ready to unveil its latest vision for television, with an event at its Cupertino headquarters next week titled "It's the show's time".
Cook's latest bet is that an acceleration of cable cutting and the proliferation of streaming services have created a new role for Apple as an aggregator. Apple wants to reinvent the TV guide with a personalized list of shows drawn from a wide range of sources, including some shows.
Even going as far as launching a new service is a feat for Apple. Unlike the music and telecommunications industries, which were forced to give control to Apple during the iPod and iPhone eras, pay-TV operators have been able to hang on to their direct relationship with consumers. customers.
Instead of trying to reorient the TV experience around an iPhone-like grid, such as Netflix, Disney or HBO, Apple's new TV platform is likely to focus on individual emissions.
The existing "TV" app, already available on iPhone and iPad, as well as the actual Apple TV box, revolves around each viewer's favorite series, with personalized recommendations for other TVs and movies from a wide range of suppliers.
Until now, however, emissions from key vendors such as Netflix were missing from Apple's TV guide.
While Hollywood still had not decided to team up with the iPhone maker, Apple began a radical change in its television strategy two years ago. She hired two esteemed executives, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, from Sony Pictures TV. Armed with a budget of $ 1 billion, they began ordering their own television series and now have more than 30 series in the works of big names, including Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
Apple just needs one of these original shows to become a hit – perhaps its new drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, a sci-fi epic based on the Isaac Asimov Foundation novels, or a detective thriller Sixth Sense director M Night Shyamalan – to attract viewers to his TV application.
In search of television series, Hollywood executives say that Apple has been looking for high quality content at a time when Netflix is pursuing the mass market with a huge amount of original series. "Apple is very proud to be very organized, with a smaller but better offer," said a producer who has worked with both companies.
However, some in Hollywood have struggled to adapt to the secrecy and high standards with which Apple generally approaches all of its products. While Apple could be "very cautious in every small step," said the producer, the company also wants to not develop a reputation with which it is difficult to work. "They want the best creative talent to work there, not find [Apple] so infuriating that they give up. "
Analysts estimate that Apple could charge between $ 10 and $ 15 per month for a subscription video service including its original programs. The company needs new revenue streams to counter recent iPhone declines and reach its $ 50 billion service revenue goal by 2020.
Some of Wall Street are skeptical that a video service can have a significant impact. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note this week that even though 20 million people subscribed to $ 15 a month, this would only generate $ 3.6 billion in annual revenue – just 1% of the figure. Apple's total business of $ 265.6 billion last year – and add less than half a percent of consensus earnings estimates of Wall Street.
To boost revenues from its own broadcasts, the iPhone maker also spent several months negotiating agreements with television networks and movie studios to offer their content.
Viacom and CBS are in advanced talks to grant program licenses to Apple, while HBO, owned by AT & T, also held talks, said people familiar with the subject. The other content of WarnerMedia is not being discussed but could be in the future, said these people.
Pricing would be consistent with Amazon's "strings" structure, in which Prime customers can pay additional monthly charges for individual subscriptions to other streaming services, such as Nickelodeon's "Noggin", for children. preschool. "You basically have a stream of easy content between different brands," said a person familiar with the plans.
Hollywood executives are tempted to team up with Apple because of its massive reach, but they are also wary of the potential costs of an increased transfer of control of their content to tech giants. In the Apple ecosystem, they may not be aware of the information about their customers and what they are watching. Television groups fear losing their long-standing control over tariffs or UI design, as their channel brands are overwhelmed by a list of programs and Apple acting as gatekeeper.
For small businesses such as Viacom and CBS, this decision is easier. Viacom is not trying to set up its own streaming service and is making a lot of money selling programs to tech companies, such as restarting MTV's "The Real World" reality show for Facebook .
The decision is more complicated for AT & T and Disney, who made mega-acquisitions to build their content libraries and tackle Netflix. "There will be content that [they] It's probably best to keep the decision, "said one familiar with AT & T's strategy." The math is different now. "
Disney is preparing to reveal its streaming service project just two weeks after the Apple event. The media group was candid about his plans as CEO Bob Iger dropped the details of the calls for results over the past year.
On the other hand, Apple has provided little information about the March 25 event, even to studios whose shows will feature in its new video package. After waiting so long for the grand unveiling, many in the TV business still feel that Apple has a lot to prove.
"They have not illustrated strategy," said a TV network manager. "It's Apple, but at the same time, there are other places to go."
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