How successful is Apple TV +? There are different opinions on this matter. My colleague Alexander Bogdanov, for example, wrote that the service failed miserably, but many readers believe that the video service itself is not bad, but there is too little content. Only Tim Cook, opening one of last year’s virtual events, called this service a success. Great content and brilliant prospects. True, in the largest video streaming market (in the US) in December last year, Apple TV + was in seventh place with 3% of the market. This is definitely not a miserable failure, but it cannot be called a success either. What’s wrong with Apple TV +? What are the reasons for the “failure” of this service? We now know Apple’s biggest mistake in the Apple TV + project and what it needs to do.
Dan Ives, an analyst at investment firm Wedbush Securities, is one of those predicting that Apple’s market capitalization will surpass $ 3 trillion this year. And Apple’s biggest mistake, which makes the Apple TV + so reluctant to take off, is in its past, in his opinion. The fact that neither Steve Jobs nor Tim Cook bought Netflix 10-12 years ago. That is, everything is gone, and Apple TV + has no chance? No, the expert is sure that Apple has a chance. She needs to urgently buy a decent and large studio – the Apple TV + lacks exactly that. Maybe I’m wrong, but the quality of films and TV shows Apple Originals is not inferior to “decent” studios, but the content is really not enough. But Apple is unlikely to do it.
Apple could buy Netflix?
In August 2014, Apple acquired Beats Electronics for $ 3 billion, $ 400 million of paid-in stock. And in January of that year, Beats Electronics launched a streaming music service. In 2009-2011, the acquisition of Netflix would hardly have cost Apple more. But then Apple did not have extra money, and its focus was on the iPhone and iPad, in the development of which huge funds were invested. In 2014, Beats Electronics’ music streaming achievements were not the main reason to buy the company.
Even if they thought about it, buying Netflix would be too tough for Apple. However, the analyst agrees that in 2014 it was already unrealistic. But if Apple bought Netflix in the early 2000s, it would be a different matter. Netflix had problems; it would have been relatively inexpensive, but who could have imagined what this loser would become in ten years? And it is not a fact that it would have achieved the same results if it were an Apple subsidiary. This is anything but the fault of Jobs, Cook, or abstract Apple.
What Apple will do with Apple TV +?
Dan Ives has recommended several studios to Apple that he thinks would be happy to be part of Apple. These are MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Lionsgate and A24. There is no information that these studios, their owners are ready to concede to someone. Information about the negotiations of their owners about a possible sale would certainly appear in the media. But even if their owners were looking for a buyer, this is not easy. The studio acquisition would help Apple TV + offer more movies, which is a plus. But Apple’s own production, which has already shown itself well, but is still in the process of formation, would have suffered irreparable damage. And millions of dollars have been and are being invested in it. I’d rather be patient.
It is not “someone” that is to blame, but “something”. In 2020, due to COVID, several film projects had to be suspended. Since the participants in some projects were not ready to wait for the end of the pandemic and the lifting of restrictions, these projects were closed. Until the restrictions were eased, there was no filming at Apple.
Now, if Steve had not sold the Pixar studio to Disney, everything would have been different. And the answers to the question “what to do” in the current situation are different. You and I can not influence the situation in any way. Apple TV + has between 20 and 40 million paying subscribers, and the exact number is unknown. If several thousand people subscribe to a paid service to support the company, no one will notice their victim. Tim considers the service prospects to be excellent, and we will assume that he knows better. And those who advise Apple not to do something or vice versa, be sure to do it; I would ask to give it advice, again and again, it’s amusing.