Apple CEO Tim Cook: We Feel 'Really Good About Where We Are' With Apple TV+

[jlc1978]

Loved it. One of my favorite finales ever. It’s some of the best crafted characters and writing. It can be a bit slow at times but they plant these seeds and it all comes together at the end. To see how far the show and the characters have come in two seasons is great. Bye Bob 🥲

While I have really enjoyed FAM, I thought the ending was a bit predictable, except for the phone call cliff hanger. I am looking forward to season 3.

 

[salamanderjuice]

As they should be — they’re sticking with quality over quantity and it is working.
The price (no, whether you are getting it subsidized right now is not the poin’t) aligns with this. Meanwhile, I’m paying more and more (and extra) from some to even get 4K content in 2021. There is absolutely something for everyone and they keep adding more and more value for, again, a very reasonable price.

What quality?

I have managed to stick through one show, Ted Lasso, the entire time I've had it. They really don't have anything super amazing on the level The Wire, Game of Thrones etc. Everything else I've tried has been extremely middling like The Morning Show or Dark.

I wouldn't pay for it. Only have it because it's included in my student plan.

 

[Thunderstrike76]

3 years ago: Cook declined to provide specific numbers, but he said that HomePod is going "very well" and that Apple feels "really good" about where HomePod is at.

Jason Snell and iMore do a Terrific job of making transcripts of each earnings call. Do you remember what earnings call it was Tim said this so I can fact check you?

 

[Cleartz]

That's cool and all but Apple TV+ needs its own app.

 

[Packers1958]

Well, he's an old man, and that's what old men say. I should know, I am an old man.

 

[Black Belt]

I’m glad he does. For me it ranks at the bottom of my main paid services.

1) Netflix
2) Disney
3) HBO
4) Prime
5) Hulu
6) Apple

A couple things like Mythic Quest I really like, but not nearly enough entertainment content. Too much focus on earning awards with dull content.

They should look at main content that’s missing from main providers and license it. Go deep into catalogs, like the complete Schwarzenegger, the complete Vincent Price, and The Thin Man and Firefly (and produce more) and Alias and Lost in HIGH QUALITY. Hulu has more content but the streaming is absolute crap with tons of commercials.

Give me a reason to pay for it on an ongoing basis. If you have to keep giving it away because there’s nothing there to hold actual subscribers, you shouldn’t be “happy with it”.

 

[terpsbball2002]

I feel like Apple + shows are little too PG. I want to see shows like “Peaky Blinders,“ “Breaking Bad,” and “Narcos.”

 

[Madmic23]

What about the name? Is it just me or is "Apple TV" & "Apple TV+" confusing?
With hindsight maybe they should have reserved Apple TV for their streaming service and used something else for that little black set top box.

What’s to be confused about? You can watch Apple TV+ in the Apple TV app on the Apple TV device. Or, you can watch Apple TV+ on the Apple TV app on another device, like a smart TV. Or, if you don’t have Apple TV+, you can use the Apple TV app to watch your paid movie and TV show purchases, or different channels of content. Unless your watching on the Apple TV app on a non-Apple device, in which case you can’t watch Apple TV channels, just your purchased content or Apple TV+. So not confusing at all!

And yes, I totally agree with you. The names are too similar and too confusing.

p.s. I hate that every streaming service thinks it needs to add + to end of their name now. Please stop that.

 

[groove-agent]

I haven't seen anything on Apple TV+ I've wanted to watch. Even for free I don't watch it, I definitely wouldn't pay for it.

 

[Madmic23]

I feel like Apple + shows are little too PG. I want to see shows like “Peaky Blinders,“ “Breaking Bad,” and “Narcos.”

Did you watch See? That was definitely not PG. I almost didn’t watch it because I thought the concept was too out there. Blind people fighting? How? But then I watched it, and it was actually really good. Way better than I was expecting.

 

[Ar40]

I feel like Apple + shows are little too PG. I want to see shows like “Peaky Blinders,“ “Breaking Bad,” and “Narcos.”

If you feel that way, watch Morning Show, Servant, For All Mankind, or See. I think the whole PG thing is a bit silly honestly. Apple shows don't pull any punches and are in the same caliber of adult drama as Breaking Bad (in terms of adult content, though obviously Breaking Bad is the greatest, IMO, TV show of all time, and nothing on TV+ has reached those dizzying heights). The only thing Apple shies away from is too much skin, which Breaking Bad also shied away from on AMC.

 

[Johnny907]

you do know a worldwide pandemic shut down all the movie studios, right??? That meant all production stopped for a long while and is just getting back to full swing.

And yet other productions at competing services are cruising right along with manageable delays. I’m sorry what was your excuse again, exactly, for why Apple can’t manage the same?

 

[Johnny907]

Other than For All Mankind and Ted Lasso, it’s been one huge yawnfest for me. I’m glad the service is free, but won’t be renewing the moment that changes.

 

[the8thark]

I will not subscribe to TV+ because of what it is. If that substationally changes for the better I'll consider it. However I think this positive change will not happen for a long long time (if ever).

 

[JCCL]

Liked For All Mankind, Ted Lasso and mythic quest. If it wasn’t free for me probably I would pay for it like 1 month per year, what those few shows I liked and keep it turned off afterwards.

for free it’s good tough.

 

[Wildkraut]

I feel like Apple + shows are little too PG. I want to see shows like “Peaky Blinders,“ “Breaking Bad,” and “Narcos.”

Apple is prude, this will never happen!

 

[Thunderstrike76]

Apple is prude, this will never happen!

What’s your definition of prude? The show SEE has a concept of praying that’s much different than ours. In the show people pray to the queen and they do that by giving her oral sex. Because they are blind they think an orgasm is magic that comes from the praying. And there’s plenty of blood and guts in the show. Maybe not as much of Game of Thrones but there’s definitely some.

 

[dwaite]

What about the name? Is it just me or is "Apple TV" & "Apple TV+" confusing?
With hindsight maybe they should have reserved Apple TV for their streaming service and used something else for that little black set top box.

The + suffix is reserved for services - except Apple Music, where they don't use it to differentiate from the other library management.

The confusion between the TV app, Apple TV, and Apple TV+ is one where consumers consider a wide variety of different things "TV related".

- Apple TV ( TV) is not a television but a set top box
- The TV app (TV) does not turn your device into a television but rather acts as a video player for media purchases and content sources (called "channels" in apple parlance)
- Apple TV+ ( TV+) is not a service exclusive to their set top box, but is instead a content channel consumable through TV app and through multiple third party sources (other set top boxes, game consoles, and integrated into smart TVs)

 

[laurieballard]

I am happy with the content itself but there is just not enough of it.

Fortunately I am still on the free 1 year which has been extended but I won't be paying for it. I would probably binge watch most of it in a few days and am then stuck paying a fiver a month for the odd thing to come out.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

I've been enjoying all of the Apple TV+ material. I highly recommend See, it is a bit slow paced at first but is brilliant by the end. Servant was really great, completely different to any other program. Mythic Quest is very funny. Next I will start to watch Ted Lasso, and I am really looking forward to Foundation.

I've also enjoyed every bit of content I've watched on Apple TV+.

 

[willsh]

As somebody who is not American, most of what I’ve seen on Apple TV+ seems to me to be tailored to American tastes (which is of course understandable from an American company, and given that America is the biggest market). I’m probably wrong about this, but it’s how the content comes across to me. For example, I found Ted Lasso to be unwatchable, but Americans seem to love it.

I liked Tehran, and The Servant was interesting (although I got the impression the second series was just filler to stretch it to a third series), but everything else I’ve watched on it — quite a lot of the Morning Show, Saving Jacob(?), the podcasting one starring Jesse Pinkman, probably others — is absolute garbage (in my opinion).

I really think Apple have an uphill battle with this service, as without buying-in a back-catalogue, the offering is anaemic even if you like what’s on there. There are two films I‘ve watched on Apple TV+ that were really good, but this underscores my point — as far as I know, the rights to most/all of the films on Apple TV+ have been purchased post-facto, rather than commissioned by Apple.

I’ve seen John Gruber describe it as the ‘new HBO’, with it allegedly focussing on quality over quantity, but I don’t see this as a helpful comparison. HBO grew up in a different age, and had an entirely set of market circumstances. A streaming service on a rolling monthly subscription needs volume.

I accepted the one-year trial so I could watch Greyhound, but there’s not a chance I’d pay for the rest of the service.

I'm tempted to agree. Acknowleding that the service is still in it's infancy, and that it is a US company, Apple TV+ is currently available in 107 different countries, not all of whome share the same language and culture as the United States.

I think Apple has a really exciting opportunity as they develop the service to create truly global content - stories and content from all over the world are entertaining and informative. Some of the best shows and movies I've discovered on other platforms have been non-english language or from countries I wouldn't normally associate with amazing content. I hope Apple take that opportunity!

That being said, I've really enjoyed For All Mankind and very much looking forward to Foundation..

 

[AussieStu]

I wouldn't be. I canned my subscription to it. If Apple TV+ opened up everything in the iTunes Lib then yes I would sign up right now. But since its not...

Wish they build a good Apple TV though.

 

[tsukeyomi]

I loved Servant and For All Mankind. Really enjoyed them both a lot. I found The Morning Show really good too.

I have tried watching Defending Jacob but I gave up after an episode or too - the acting, screenplay and everything about the show was not genuine at all, really predictable and made me cringe way too much. It felt so fake, characters not acting logically and so on.

Well to each their own! I really hope they will continue Servant, For All Mankind and keep pushing great stuff!

 

[qoop]

Another 30 series of Ted Lasso then?

 

[trash eighty]

I think they need to play the long game on Apple TV+, it'll take a good few years for them to build up the content library but i think they should try and keep the quality high.