Eddy Cue Talks Apple TV+, Apple News+, and Apple Music in New Interview

[MacRumors]

Eddy Cue recently spoke with The Times to discuss various topics related to Apple's services, which he helps run, including Apple Music, Apple News+, and the upcoming Apple TV+. Much of the interview focused on Apple TV+ and its launch this fall, with Cue stating that Apple's focus will be on quality over quantity.

Apple's plan will be in direct contrast to Netflix, which creates a lot of content every month for its subscribers to watch. Cue said that "there's nothing wrong with that model, but it's not our model." Apple will release new shows and episodes consistently, but not nearly at the same rate as Netflix.

When asked why Apple can be trusted with creating high-quality TV dramas, Cue admitted that the company wasn't up to the task, so it hired people who are. This is referring to Apple's hiring of Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg from Sony, who have "incredible taste" according to Cue.

Yet this talk of quality prompts my next question. Apple knows its music and he knows his sport, but what do they know about TV drama? What's Apple's taste in that?

"That's a great question, one we asked ourselves too. Look, we don't know a lot about television other than we are big consumers of it, but that doesn't quite qualify you as an expert by any means. The thing that we're smart about is when we don't know about something we want to get into, we go and find the best people for it."

Jumping to the topic of Apple News+, Cue stated that one of Apple's big goals right now is to convince younger people to subscribe to the service. Apple News+ has been struggling since its launch earlier this year, as many publishers are unimpressed with the revenue generated from the service.

"One of the things we're trying to do is to get people to understand that curated, high-quality news, is worth something. For you and I that's not a big deal. We've known that all our lives. If you're 20 years old, I'm not sure you think that way."

Cue also commented on the growing success of Apple Music, which recently hit 60 million paid subscribers. According to the Apple executive, Apple Music grew out of the company's "real love for music": "The history of Apple and music goes to the very beginning. It's been a big part of the DNA. It was a big part of Steve Jobs's life. He always knew that music was a big part of making him who he was."

Article Link: Eddy Cue Talks Apple TV+, Apple News+, and Apple Music in New Interview

 

[JetTester]

You know, I used to think that Apple made great computers for professionals, and they still do to a certain degree. But ever since the iPod, their strength is in designing products and services for consumers. I can't say whether that is a good or bad change, but I believe it is an extraordinarily profitable change, and in these times, it is all about the profit.

 

[ouimetnick]

When will these executives leave Steve Jobs and Steve Job’s DNA out of their b.s.?

Jobs was great at assembling the best teams to make amazing products, but with out him there, the teams are pretty weak (imo)

 

[Herrpod]

I'm not 20 and I'm still not interested in Apple's "curated news". Or magazines.

 

[IPPlanMan]

“Curated”.

Sorry Eddy. I don’t trust your curation. Give me the content I want and get out of the way.

 

[Marco Klobas]

I'm 42, Eddy.

I know that curated news has value as well as a good app/UI/UX. Right now it's the latter that prevents me to subscribe to Apple News+.

 

[Zimmy68]

I wonder if they asked him... Hey Eddie, now that Jon is leaving, any chance you will leave and start your own company also?
I'm sure it will blow everyone away with your visionary ideas.

Remember how Apple News+ was supposed to grow and get better? It is just as bad as day one with no changes in site.
Thanks, Eddy!

 

[rpat701]

Honestly, how is this guy still employed by Apple?

 

[IPPlanMan]

I wonder if they asked him... Hey Eddie, now that Jon is leaving, any chance you will leave and start your own company also?
I'm sure it will blow everyone away with your visionary ideas.

Remember how Apple News+ was supposed to grow and get better? It is just as bad as day one with no changes in site.
Thanks, Eddy!

I remember this: https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...y-cue-overextended-falling-asleep-in-meetings

Explains a lot... about a lot of things: Maps, Siri, HomePod... and on and on and on.

 

[TMRJIJ]

This guy’s demeanor just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know why though. I love Apple Music and Apple Pay and can’t wait to see what Apple TV+ has. His face just turns me off

 

[IPPlanMan]

This guy’s demeanor just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know why though. I love Apple Music and Apple Pay and can’t wait to see what Apple TV+. His face just turns me off

It’s an “I know better than you what you want” attitude.

Worked naturally for Steve because he was a true genius at making great products. Everyone else is simply trying to ride those coattails, and it’s bad acting.

 

[robjulo]

Because he is the most smug executive I've ever seen.......even after poor roll out after poor rollout.

This guy’s demeanor just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know why though. I love Apple Music and Apple Pay and can’t wait to see what Apple TV+ has. His face just turns me off

 

[pika2000]

The problem with Apple's services like the new ones here is that they are US focused. Some regions don't even have access to the News app. It is understandable since Apple is a US company, but it wouldn't hurt to also have a focus in other regions as well, especially Asia (where there are other countries aside from China and Japan).

 

[nt5672]

When will these executives leave Steve Jobs and Steve Job’s DNA out of their b.s.?

Jobs was great at assembling the best teams to make amazing products, but with out him there, the teams are pretty weak (imo)

Not so sure I agree with this. I think two things have happened.

1) Management has deteriorated to the point that making great products is no longer fully understood or appreciated and therefor the teams just do what little they are asked to do. There is certainly no fire-em, if they don't get it right drive any more. I just feel like the engineers are only given time to turn out mediocre products and so that is what they do.

and

2) There is no strategic value seen in technology leadership driving the brand. Sure they try, with AR, self driving cars, touch strips, etc. In most cases, at least the ones we've seen lately, Apple is just following every one else. Even these efforts are reduced in effectiveness by neglecting existing products like the macPro and making a MacBook Pro that is really no different than MacBook or MacBook Air in performance.

They released the HomePod without stereo. It took over a year IIRC for that to show up. That is like releasing a phone that cannot make phone calls for more than a minute. Then the debacle of the flat wireless charger. Being only a marketing company and releasing marketing PR before the tech is ready is NOT at all like the old Apple. Sure Jobs had his gaffs, but no where near the extent shown today.

It is these management decisions that are hurting Apple and they derive directly from Tim Cook.

 

[sinsin07]

Yo, whoever buys his shirts needs some serious vision gear.

 

[Veinticinco]

At least Jony Ive had the decency to look serious/reflective/slightly grumpy when customer-facing.

Whereas Eddy Cue just oozes smug/patronising/obnoxious.

 

[GeoStructural]

It’s an “I know better than you what you want” attitude.

Worked naturally for Steve because he was a true genius at making great products. Everyone else is simply trying to ride those coattails, and it’s bad acting.

It worked for Steve because at the time there was no one doing something at the same level... but remember Steve was against: 1) App Store, 2) Big screen, 3) User customization, 4) Stylus... many of these things we like.

Eddy Cue lacks charisma and vision, he is behind the whole Maps failure and the buggiest software releases, he is a strong figure of the “services” shift in Apple business and for that alone I dislike him.

 

[sblemmy]

Apple's biggest problem is that the tech landscape has shifted so significantly in the past decade. Apple thrived in in the late-90s and 2000s because Steve Jobs recognized early on that the trifecta of hardware, software, and services was the key to sustainable company growth. However, services has always been Apple's weakest area of the three, and they got leapfrogged by software/service companies that started building their own hardware. Microsoft and Amazon left Apple in the dust with cloud computing and services. Google and Amazon have been collecting consumer data for decades that puts them miles ahead of Apple in AI.

Today, services are the big seller, since most hardware and software are adequate to deliver them. For instance, my Toshiba FireTV plays Netflix content just as well as my AppleTV 4K, and the whole set costs marginally more than Apple's standalone set top box.

 

[jimbobb24]

Apple is going to make quality TV not quantity. Sure - Netflix is just shoveling out garbage. So is HBO. Wait - that’s not right. They are all trying to produce quality but no one knows any secret to just make quality every time. Everyone flops. Some less than others. Even Pixar and Marvel - the closest thing to perfection Hollywood has both have made bad shows or movies. I wish Apple the best but TV shows and movies are not like hardware. They are much more fickle.

 

[zubikov]

Apple will not make a dent in Netflix + Google + FB + Amazon's well-established online TV dominance. The ship to negotiate great exclusive content has sailed a long time ago. No platform, no matter how far-reaching, will make up for lackluster content. Meanwhile even more new entrants continue to hit out of the park, i.e. Disney.

This means that Apple's services dominance will be held at paid music and picture sharing. So now we have plateaued hardware design, stalling growth in services, and nothing else.

 

[Just sayin...]

Hey Eddie - want to take Apple Music to the next level? Lossless is where it’s at, baby. You’re welcome.

 

[murdoc2k]

Hey Eddie - want to take Apple Music to the next level? Lossless is where it’s at, baby. You’re welcome.

Well I hope you have a really beefy data plan because for one, those plans aren't something I can afford, which would price me and my family out of apple music. The current AAC 256kbps format is just fine. It actually has higher quality than 320kbps MP3 in much more compact size.

Do a quick google search to understand about bitrates and you will see very quickly that anything above 160kbps is already overkill. Sure, Lossless is wonderful, but the question is: Is it worth the additional size, data for the marginal gain that would be experienced by over 90% of the population?

 

[happyprozak]

Apple's biggest problem is that the tech landscape has shifted so significantly in the past decade. Apple thrived in in the late-90s and 2000s because Steve Jobs recognized early on that the trifecta of hardware, software, and services was the key to sustainable company growth. However, services has always been Apple's weakest area of the three, and they got leapfrogged by software/service companies that started building their own hardware. Microsoft and Amazon left Apple in the dust with cloud computing and services. Google and Amazon have been collecting consumer data for decades that puts them miles ahead of Apple in AI.

Today, services are the big seller, since most hardware and software are adequate to deliver them. For instance, my Toshiba FireTV plays Netflix content just as well as my AppleTV 4K, and the whole set costs marginally more than Apple's standalone set top box.

I don't believe Apple has been weak in the services area. Apple has been the leader in music, tv, and movies for a long time now.

They have lost some of their foothold because they were a bit slow in creating a music subscription service and television has been slowly moving to subscription services as well, which Apple is barely getting into. But Apple now has more paid subscribers in the USA than Spotify and Apple Music's growth rate is higher than Spotify as well.

I recently compared Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, and Google Play Movies to iTunes for television and movies and iTunes is still very much ahead of the game. iTunes gives you splash screen with a menu that lets you select scenes and extra features with music that plays in the background, similar to physical discs, none of the other services do this.

I think Apple Music has the most beautiful UI but there isn't a lot of differences in music services, other than Apple Music has a larger catalog. There's the occasional album that Apple has that other services do not.

Books is the only area where Apple has not a market leader. Their latest book store update is absolutely gorgeous. I'm in love with it. But the reading app and store content is bested by Amazon. Amazon's 3 headed book apps are kings in the area, Kindle, Audible, and Comixology.

As of now, no one is close to matching Comixology in quality or content. Comic Books look amazing on my iPad Pro 12.9" when using the Comixology app.

In Apple Books the same comic books are blurry because the resolution is too low.

 

[Morod]

Do a quick google search to understand about bitrates and you will see very quickly that anything above 160kbps is already overkill.

Huh? 320kbps is the absolute minimum, if you're using anything better than ear pods, which means pretty much anything other than ear pods.

 

[derekamoss]

You know, I used to think that Apple made great computers for professionals, and they still do to a certain degree. But ever since the iPod, their strength is in designing products and services for consumers. I can't say whether that is a good or bad change, but I believe it is an extraordinarily profitable change, and in these times, it is all about the profit.

It wasn't the iPod that ruined Apple, it was the iPhone and iOS and putting all the focus that way. Once they started managing two OS's thats when things went down