Apple’s Move Into Original TV Programming Will Radically Change the Whole Company
This article at Wired just before the holidays caught my attention.
It looks innocent enough. It’s only natural that Apple, being on the verge of launching a new 4K/UHD Apple TV and having committed so much new money to hiring studio executives to create original TV content, should suddenly wake up and discover the implications of (a loss of) Net Neutrality.
Tim Cook will face a whole new set of challenges in the original TV content universe.
But now I believe the implications of Apple’s new interests are broader than even that.
Before iTunes, Apple had long been known for the company that mostly delivers us our content. In time, MacBooks, iPads, iPhones and Apple TVs emerged in what might be called the sleepy years of hardware. By that I mean that Apple made great devices for people to use and access information and entertainment created by others. Services were a side business, a hobby. Apple had no particular axe to grind except to make the very best, secure, integrated hardware and software.
I now suspect that Apple’s engagement in its own original TV content will create a new set of imperatives for the company. The Apple TV won’t be just a hobby. It will become a critical instrument in Apple’s quest to steer eyeballs its way. That means Apple will have to think about its delivery system in the context of the entire TV industry. New competitive frictions will arise.
Naturally, Apple will have to think about Net Neutrality and its corporate stance, as described above. Apple will have to think about transmission standards for video and audio and how to both play with the Big Players and also compete with them. It will have to think about how customers perceive its position in the TV electronics marketplace. It will have to think about how its reputation for building only the best products translates into standards for TV content. Like the Disney company. It will have to think about how the design and evolution of its own computers, tablets and phones support its own entertainment endeavors—perhaps in new ways.
How far can Apple go?
Apple New Again
The sleepy years of hardware and iTunes will emerge into a company that thinks first about services and its self-created entertainment. It will still make the best hardware, but the company’s involvement in the business of entertainment will have a broad and deep influence in how the company interacts with the market as a whole.
The TV and movie industries have fought hard to make sure Apple didn’t do to them what it did to music. The question is, now, can Apple develop a new maturity, technical breadth and acumen, organizational structure and operational excellence to meet this new challenge?
And still remain true to its roots.
Next Page: The News Debris For The Week Of September 4th. Artificial intelligence at gunpoint.
Page 2 – News Debris For The Week Of September 4th
AI at Gunpoint
Thanks to Siri and competitors, we think a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) and its evolution. Companies of every kind are thinking about how AI principles can be utilized to provide a competitive edge. What we don’t hear much about is the use of AI by governments. That’s probably because the work is highly classified.
And then the question arises: how advanced is the work by governments compared to that we hear about in the enterprise? And what if a government believes that it needs to appropriate trade secrets in the name of national security? Here we go: “Elon Musk: Governments will obtain AI technology ‘at gunpoint’ if necessary.”
The new battlefield between nations is cyber warfare. No doubt, nations will perceive that AI agents will be the new frontline troops. In our modern technology, if you can conceive of something happening, it will.
The new cyber warfare soldier?
More Debris
• What is the potential for 8K TV? You might scoff and claim that all we’ll ever need is 4K/UHD. Customers can’t be expected to get excited about 8K so soon after they’ve jumped from 2K to 4K. However, that’s a hasty assumption. As TV technology develops, we’ll see higher and higher resolutions married to larger displays of constant cost. I can see a day when our TVs will cover an entire wall, like the mirrors in a dance studio. We’ll look back on these tiny 4K/UHD TVs with a 65-inch display as relics of the early 21st century. That’s how I’m thinking now when I see” “Sharp is bringing 8K TVs to market later this year because 4K is so 2016.”
The evolution in size and pixel count will continue until we all have real holodecks in every home. Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” We’ll do it.
• We’ve heard that Apple sees India as its next big market for iPhones. The notion isn’t lost on Apple’s competitors. “Google Teams With China’s Xiaomi to Win a Billion New Users in India.”
At one time, Apple wasn’t very clever about how to work with the culture of foreign countries. But that’s all changed now and Apple is a formidable competitor in every foreign culture and market. Good luck Google.
• Cars have revolutionized our culture for the last 100 years. But that may be changing soon as the cost of ownership, especially for young people, becomes more and more of a burden. Here’s an interesting article at The New York Times about how one college campus is thinking about the future of transportation. “On the College Campus of the Future, Parking May Be a Relic.” I can imagine how, at one time, Apple envisioned itself a part of this future culture. Unfortunately, the company ran into problems that have prevented it from pursuing it. Or so it seems for now.
• Not only is Roku the market leader in Over the Top (OTT) boxes for streaming video on demand (SVOD) on the internet, but now they’re pouring on the coals with plans for a $100M IPO. It constantly amazes me how Apple let Roku become so dominant in this market. I’m guessing that Apple’s new emphasis on creating original content will light a fire under all the new Apple TVs to come.
• Speaking of the new Apple TV, new code findings, reported at AppleInsider reveal that Apple’s iTunes store will be offering content with High Dynamic Range (HDR). HDR creates a dramatically better picture, over and above the mere resolution gain of 4K/UHD TVs, and so this is a good sign that Apple is all-in with the 4K/UHD revolution. See: “Imminent arrival of HDR iTunes Store content reaffirmed in new code findings.”
• From time to time, we hear about the design and evolution of Facebook. In this London Review of Books John Lanchester takes a deep look at several books that describe the culture of social media, Facebook, and how they’ve come to strongly influence society. Even elections. Check out “You Are the Product.”
• Finally, this exemplary report by Mark Gurman shows us just “How Apple Plans to Change the Way You Use the Next iPhone.”
Apple Inc. plans to transform the way people use its next high-end iPhone by eliminating the concept of a home button and making other adjustments to a flagship device that’s becoming almost all screen, according to images of the new device viewed by Bloomberg News and people familiar with the gadget.
The home button on the iPhone has been with us since it launched in 2007. It’s only natural that technical evolution should take us un new directions. This is going to be exciting,
Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed on page two by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holiday weekends.
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