Eddy Cue on Apple TV: Customers Should Be Able to 'Buy Whatever They Want, However They Want'

[CarlJ]

And they can't switch to a TSMC chip, they can't get a phone that won't bend, ...

You left out the anti-gravity feature that floats my iPhone to the ground like a feather in case it is dropped...

Or a shatterproof display would be simpler and actually exists

Sorry, but would you folks please knock it off? The very first comment on the thread abusing the "anything at any time" phrase was slightly cute and insightful. The rest of this - cute or not, interesting or not - has NOTHING to do with AppleTV content deals, the subject of this thread. Thanks.

 

[CFreymarc]

Sorry, but would you folks please knock it off? The very first comment on the thread abusing the "anything at any time" phrase was slightly cute and insightful. The rest of this - cute or not, interesting or not - has NOTHING to do with AppleTV content deals, the subject of this thread. Thanks.

Dude, it is a Friday night for most of us. Chill.

 

[azentropy]

That, sir, is entirely up to Amazon.

So Apple agreed to waive their ridiculous 30% fees? Nice to know.

 

[McGiord]

Apple was founded, has it's headquarters, and is run out of the USA. So yes, Apple is going to use it's home market to launch all new products and ideas.

If this bothers you so much, you have three choices:

1. Apply for citizenship and move to the USA
2. Start your own Apple-like rival company and base it out of Australia. This will allow you to play favorite to your home market while the rest of us complain about how unfair life is.
3. Stop complaining.

I love the USA so I suggest you go for #1 but it seems like you complain and whine a lot. We already have enough of that in the USA so you should probably just go for #3.

chill out man... there are plenty of solutions to watch US content, just a few ideas:
1- get a US iTunes account and get it going
2- a VPN service would do the trick too.

 

[Type4O]

So, if he says we should be able to buy whatever we want however we want, why can't I buy from the UK iTunes tore with my Canadian credit card, and why is my iPhone locked to each store for 90 days?

 

[McGiord]

Over the air channels can already support themselves with advertising. If I have an antenna, I can pick up basic channels in crisp HD for free.
Those channels should just offer apps for their channels for free as they do over the air and then explore the new abilities that an app can offer their advertisers. Ads can be demographically relevant for one. Secondly, they can be interactive. As an ad is playing, click a link to download the product's app or to buy that product with Apple Pay. This offers a lot more value to advertisers who will pay these channels more than they do on dumb advertising rotating on broadcasts over the air.
Clinging to the way things have been done for decades is only going to result in new innovative players coming in and eating the traditional broadcasters' lunch.

Many of them already do offer Apps and you can watch their content for free but watching ads.
Not all the episodes are available online though.

 

[CarlJ]

A point that folks always miss (and I do this too) when they say "I'm paying (say) $70/mo for (say) 210 channels, so they cost $3/each, and I only want five, so that should just be $15 total"... If only the folks who wanted (say) the knitting channel paid for the knitting channel (rather than everyone being forced to contribute $3/mo regardless), the cost per channel would go up a LOT, because each channel will still have the same expenses, but fewer subscribers. And probably quite a few quirky channels that are absolutely the perfect channel, for 10,000 folks nationwide, will fall by the wayside, because you can't run much of a network on $1 million a year (pay one person handsomely, sure; pay ten people, sure; pay a whole crew and provide equipment and a building and utilities and connection expenses? Not a chance).

I'd still like to see ala carte (or small package) pricing, but don't expect your expenditure to go down to just $15/mo.

 

[McGiord]

So, if he says we should be able to buy whatever we want however we want, why can't I buy from the UK iTunes tore with my Canadian credit card, and why is my iPhone locked to each store for 90 days?

It's a shame that Apple if forcing that. I used to have a subscription to Sky sports in the UK just to watch the F1 races and what I did was to buy an iTunes gift card from the UK in eBay to go over it.
Once the app was installed I was able to switch back to my US iTunes account and watch it with a VPN service that I have.
That was about 2 years ago though.

 

[McGiord]

A point that folks always miss (and I do this too) when they say "I'm paying (say) $70/mo for (say) 210 channels, so they cost $3/each, and I only want five, so that should just be $15 total"... If only the folks who wanted (say) the knitting channel paid for the knitting channel (rather than everyone being forced to contribute $3/mo regardless), the cost per channel would go up a LOT, because each channel will still have the same expenses, but fewer subscribers. And probably quite a few quirky channels that are absolutely the perfect channel, for 10,000 folks nationwide, will fall by the wayside, because you can't run much of a network on $1 million a year (pay one person handsomely, sure; pay ten people, sure; pay a whole crew and provide equipment and a building and utilities and connection expenses? Not a chance).

I'd still like to see ala carte (or small package) pricing, but don't expect your expenditure to go down to just $15/mo.

If Hulu can make it, Netflix too, Amazon Prime each subscription is under $15/month without ads. What requires is a different attitude and Apple may need to break the paradigm of taking 30% out of everything everyone else is doing.
I was expecting Google to be more aggressive in this field when they acquired YouTube, still waiting for them...

 

[QquegChristian]

Okay... I'll bite.

I have a movie for sale on iTunes. How about letting me SELL it however I want and for how much I want?

I'd like to sell it DRM free on iTunes for $5. Apple can take their 30%.

However, I must sell it with DRM and am only allowed to set the wholesale price, which is grossly over-inflated by all digital marketplaces EXCEPT Amazon. Amazon was selling my movie in HD for $7.99 when iTunes was charging $12.99 with the same wholesale price given to both. Yes, we still get the 70% of the full $12.99, but we WANT it to be cheaper and consistent across services.

Makes the filmmaker look greedy, yet we have no control. Had to set up our own site to sell DRM-free for $5, so that we had somewhere to point people to not get price gouged.

I get that Apple doesn't want to devalue digital goods and that Amazon does... But it is just pushing everyone toward piracy. You can't charge people $13 for a DRM cloud version of my movie when you can buy it on a physical disc for $3 LESS at Wal-Mart.

 

[Tycho24]

Buy whatever I want?

32GB iPhone please thank you.

You want to go back to the crappy old days when when the extra $100 bumped us to 32gb instead of the current 64gb??!!
Sounds insane, but ok.
*scratches head*

 

[TsMkLg068426]

Yeah Eddy Cue you are right so how about bringing Apple Music to ATV 3rd Gen and Amazon Prime or maybe add 4K for ATV 4 than maybe I will move on but the stupidity of still having a Beats App on ATV3 and switching it to Apple Music makes you look stupid Eddy when you say customers should stream anything they want.

 

[Costino1]

The thing that's really insulting is having to activate according to the cable service you take. If you do subscribe to cable, why do you want to have it on Apple TV? They don't seem to be able to understand that many of us don't want to pay $100-$200 a month for the privilege of having 400 channels, most of them useless and stupid.

Agree. I have Apple TV and Comcast. Oh you want to watch the same channels on Apple TV? Please sign in with your Comcast ID. Pretty redundant.

 

[appledefenceforce]

OK Eddy, how about a 32GB iPhone? Oh, and I'd like to buy it via PayPal direct from Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/apple-drops-us-paypal-credit-support/

Ok. Obviously Apple doesn't want you to buy that product via that method. If you're not happy then don't buy. It's a free capitalist world.

 

[citysnaps]

Oh yes, I do realize in what context he was speaking.

Frankly it's been frustrating to watch Apple not only limit people's choices, but lose a tremendous amount of money in the process.

Here's a couple of examples. Not to prove I'm right, but to highlight the opportunities that they must have realized were there, yet still let them go.

1) After the launch of the original iPad, the 7" tablet size made by Samsung and others became very popular. Many of us that would have loved to have a 7" (+/-) iPad had to listen to Steve Jobs pontificate why he would "Never" built such a little iPad. This from the lips of the man that was seriously obsessed with clinging to the tiny iPhone, even as must larger Android smartphones were being sold, in high demand. Three full YEARS later, finally Apple responds. A lost opportunity with a loss of vast profits when we consider Apple's margins compared to the competition.

2) Once Apple caves in and creates the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, they discontinue the tiny iPhones that a huge sector of their customer base begged them not to discontinue. Had they only continued building them with no changes, they would have continued to sell in big numbers. With a nearly never ending supply of money, they operate like nervous minions clutching onto their pennies.

"With a nearly never ending supply of money, they operate like nervous minions clutching onto their pennies."

No... They accumulated that huge supply of money by making smart choices with respect to the products they produce. When Jobs came back to Apple one of the first things he did was thin out their bloated product range. That tradition continues and is paying off handsomely for the company.

You may think Apple is not very smart, but really they are, despite your views on what they should really be doing. Their massive sales and outstanding financial performance is testament.

 

[Robin4]

So based on his comments, we could have a choice of

The full magilla for $120.00/mo. Supplied by Comcast, Direct TV, etc.

Amazon - $100/year

Apple TV - a small (good) bundle $30.00 - $40.00/mo

Sling TV - Diff bundle $20.00

Each single channel @ $5.00 - $15.00

Your pick

Hmmmm

 

[garylapointe]

Apple's rumored streaming TV service is expected to deliver a lightweight package of about 25 channels for around $40 per month, anchored by popular networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, and could launch in 2016 following multiple delays in negotiations between Apple and content providers.

Unless I have some say as to what those 25 channels are, I don't think I'm going to buy that.

I'd like the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX), CW, CNN, SyFy, BBC America (I'd rather have the actual BBC channels!), ABC Family and probably one to two others that don't come to mind. I can get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS and CW over the air (and they go to my TiVo DVR), so I'd really be paying for good "reception" (never having to touch the antenna), losing the DVR (unless they have on-demand everything) and gaining a few stations.

For that cost I could buy the shows from the networks that I don't have.

But I'm hopeful they'll do something to shake up the industry...

Gary

 

[Cmd-Z]

Ok. Obviously Apple doesn't want you to buy that product via that method. If you're not happy then don't buy. It's a free capitalist world.

The Force is strong in this one ...

 

[Tubamajuba]

Sorry, but would you folks please knock it off? The very first comment on the thread abusing the "anything at any time" phrase was slightly cute and insightful. The rest of this - cute or not, interesting or not - has NOTHING to do with AppleTV content deals, the subject of this thread. Thanks.

I refer you to this...

Dude, it is a Friday night for most of us. Chill.

I make no claims of being cute and insightful- in fact, I am not cute at all and rarely insightful. Precisely why I love these comments more than those of Ars Technica- over there, simply disagreeing with the hivemind gets you downvoted into the triple digits.

Here, I really believe that as sarcastic, bitter, and childish disagreements can get over Apple, we're just having fun. Furthermore, the vast majority of us are really good people, even if we show it in a weird way.

That said, I do believe that topicality is also necessary, so I offer this- content peddlers have little incentive to change their current revenue model, so I think the status quo will be maintained until more people cut the cord.

 

[Zirel]

I'm pretty much referring to their pricing models.

Also, we get most of their AAA shows anyways, many of those on free tv, so I'm good, thanks.

Glassed Silver:mac

Exactly, it's their shows, because we, in all Europe, don't even produce a B, much less an AAA.

 

[maxsix]

"With a nearly never ending supply of money, they operate like nervous minions clutching onto their pennies."

No... They accumulated that huge supply of money by making smart choices with respect to the products they produce. When Jobs came back to Apple one of the first things he did was thin out their bloated product range. That tradition continues and is paying off handsomely for the company.

You may think Apple is not very smart, but really they are, despite your views on what they should really be doing. Their massive sales and outstanding financial performance is testament.

Why you feel that you have to defend them is curious.

At no time did I even hint that Apple wasn't very smart.

However I am grateful that I have not caught the dreaded "Let's Just Assume and Attack" Syndrome that afflicts so many here when they disagree. Unable to simply discuss their points, they must personalize and argue.

It's very revealing of their mindset.

 

[BillyMatt87]

"With a nearly never ending supply of money, they operate like nervous minions clutching onto their pennies."

No... They accumulated that huge supply of money by making smart choices with respect to the products they produce. When Jobs came back to Apple one of the first things he did was thin out their bloated product range. That tradition continues and is paying off handsomely for the company.

You may think Apple is not very smart, but really they are, despite your views on what they should really be doing. Their massive sales and outstanding financial performance is testament.

Funny how you mention that as Apple's product lineup is starting to bloat up again under Cook.

 

[tgwaste]

Lets see, 200 channels for $40 or 25 channels for $40.

Uhm...

 

[jinnj]

OK Eddy, how about a 32GB iPhone? Oh, and I'd like to buy it via PayPal direct from Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/apple-drops-us-paypal-credit-support/

The 32GB iPhone I get but why PayPal. I actually hate using PayPal for the numerous "fraud" investigations they have made on my small company and when Sears refunded $400 for items they were out of stock during the holidays.

This means they hold on to this money and earn interest and you have to work hard as hell to get them to release it. My $5000+, I earned selling a legit service, is small potatoes but if they do this to enough people they can earn quite a bit.

I got crapped on by my customers for dropping paypal as a option but I told them to complain to PayPal about it. I use Amazon Payments and a few others for overseas.

The only think keep Amazon getting on Apple TV is Jeff Bezo's ego.
...
What we have is not a technical problem but an issue with business model. Apple was a bull through the china shop that the Music industry is still spinning on. Now it is time to smack around the big five networks and cable cabals.

Agree. Amazon is keeping the App out of the Apple TV. Also Apple got it's ways with the Music companies because they were hurting due to piracy (Napster). At every meeting with Apple the Big Music companies kept mentioning that Sony had a system almost ready (2 years had past since they joined Sony and they had nothing). 2 more years past and we got the Sony Music store with their heavy DRM system which failed fast!. They tried to get Steve Jobs to assure them the DRM was unbreakable and he refused.

A cable company has to get desperate enough to open it's entire network to Apple for any real change to happen.

Precisely.

By focusing on how we buy stuff, Cue has inadvertently raised the vexed question of Apple's 30% fee on all purchases. It's not sustainable if Apple wish to get people like Amazon on board, let alone cable. I think Apple will need to reduce the fee to 5-10% for recurring subscriptions.

The Apple TV has been eddying and flowing over the years, but there is so much competition now, that Apple are relegated to queuing in line for content access. I don't think they have a compelling case now, sadly, as it's too late. I suspect if Jobs were alive, he would have knocked some heads together to make it work. We can only wonder what might have been.

Then why is the App available on my iPhone and iPad?

You're saying the reason Amazon is on Roku but not AppleTV is Amazon's choice? That seems odd but ok. I'd have a new apple tv by now if Amazon was on it.

Roku is not competing with Amazon in the content market. Apple and Google are.

Yes, because Apple would demand a cut of the subscription and Roku doesn't get that.

No it does not! Like all of the Amazon apps for iOS devices you need to purchase everything in a browser so it does not share the in-app purchase.

In my case as I prefer to watch on-demand any show, and currently many of those I can get with Hulu.
Only I will be willing to pay if I can select the channels I want and not limited to just a few ones like current cable providers do, otherwise it will be the same old thing.

Hey I have an HD Antenna wanna know all the great free content I get...

2 channels from a local university, 8 religious channels (4 in Korean) and the local Fox channel. Now if I mount it on the roof with a crank to turn it I can tune in to 2 more channels but the content is crap.