Kaitos

Tens across the board!
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
14,880
This is very spot on. I agree.

When you look at other services -- Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon, Hulu, Peacock -- it's easy to paint a clear picture in your head of what each service is all about.

Other than being another Apple product, Apple TV+ doesn't have an actual identity (yet).
Exactly. Even Peacock, with its dumb name, makes significantly more sense to me as a brand than Apple+ does.

Every tech genius thought they could muscle in and be Netflix or Amazon, but Amazon got a bit lucky with Transparent after a series of missteps (and their movies are probably their biggest success so far), and Netflix actually had a vision for its service that worked.
 

hrœrekr

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
May 3, 2019
1,655
Are these the only shows available? They are not offering old stuff in their catalog?
 

TheAbsolution

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,415
Atlanta, GA
On mine I literally got the ol' "okay, but what if the main character was a drug addict?" note... but like, she isn't, and that would completely change everything. Like... WHY?!

There's also the sense that everyone over there is powerless since ultimately approval needs to go up even higher than Zack and Jamie. It's like a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off.
It sounds to me, like Tim Cook is still trying to apply his past experience with manufacturing and supply stuff with television which like...lmao that's not at all how creatives work at all. They're completely different fields and require different levels of management.
 
Oct 31, 2017
5,632
I feel like Apple is going through what Microsoft was going through years ago, and that's a lack of identity and chasing trends. Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade are so ridiculously late to the game, so unbelievably unneeded, and just not a smart usage of Apple's brand or money.

That's a good point. And they would be way too late to get into cloud services right now. AWS, Azure, and GCP are probably around 90% of the market with IBM probably getting it up to 95%+.

I think going into self driving cars, robotics that can be used in manufacturing and home (hardware is so far behind software it's not even funny) would be a better way to try to disrupt a market. If they want to go in the streaming video and games they will probably have to acquire a major player or two in each realm.
 

shinken

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,952
Exactly. Even Peacock, with its dumb name, makes significantly more sense to me as a brand than Apple+ does.

Every tech genius thought they could muscle in and be Netflix or Amazon, but Amazon got a bit lucky with Transparent after a series of missteps (and their movies are probably their biggest success so far), and Netflix actually had a vision for its service that worked.
Well, they all have a huge back catalogue of tv-series and movies. Apple only has originals, if they are shit, you are left with nothing and the content are barren from the start. $5 a month is cheap, but you also get very, very few content. I guess it's harder and harder to buy existing tv-series, since everyone are launching their own streaming services.
 

Suiko

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,931
.3 Billion Dollars put into that.

Amazing.

How many original shows could they have financed with that much money?
Seems like throwing shit and see what sticks would have been a better strategy.
 

TaleSpun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,451
Without big name brands like Disney or Warner Brothers I don't see this succeeding

It probably has less to do with that and more to do with Cook and the executives strangling the baby in the crib. Most people don't have any real loyalty to Disney and much less HBO/WB, they'll sub for good shit at a good price. It's not that complicated; Apple just doesn't have it.
 

makonero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,764
It probably has less to do with that and more to do with Cook and the executives strangling the baby in the crib. Most people don't have any real loyalty to Disney and much less HBO/WB, they'll sub for good shit at a good price. It's not that complicated; Apple just doesn't have it.
I'm just saying, you have name brands with marvel or Star Wars or looney tunes, you get nothing when you start from nothing
 

Strike

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,722
Well, they wanted to cut their teeth in the TV/streaming business and they're about to get a crash course.
 

RDreamer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,119
Apple going for only family friendly originals is a such a bad move. They need to get off their high horse and put out some mature content.

I wonder how long it'll last. I can kinda see why they're going for family friendly now. When you only have four shows in your entire service you kind of need them to be watchable by nearly everyone and anyone.
 
Oct 25, 2017
5,846
I love how the biggest show they are promoting is so far the biggest negatively reviewed one.
fVRRdub.gif


This shit won't last 5 years.

I'll take that bet.
 
Oct 27, 2017
17,499
Thanks to the couple writers (?) here for sharing their experiences, but sorry they had to be such bad experiences. I don't know what Apple was thinking.
 

Deleted member 42055

User requested account closure
Banned
Apr 12, 2018
11,215
IIRC a lot of heavy hitter showrunners, producers have already been paid by other platforms to keep them exclusive ? Wonder why Apple didn't try to sign a big name creative mind to put out into the spotlight. Guess they thought name actors could carry the day? People don't keep watching bad TV just because their fave is on it, they'll sit through a movie but they won't waste hours and hours on bad, boring TV. Too many options out there now
 

TDLink

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,411
IIRC a lot of heavy hitter showrunners, producers have already been paid by other platforms to keep them exclusive ? Wonder why Apple didn't try to sign a big name creative mind to put out into the spotlight. Guess they thought name actors could carry the day? People don't keep watching bad TV just because their fave is on it, they'll sit through a movie but they won't waste hours and hours on bad, boring TV. Too many options out there now
They did try. They actually offered JJ more money than Warners, but he went with Warners anyways because of all the baggage Apple has.
 

cmalex23

Avenger
Oct 10, 2018
475
None of these shows look appealing at all. They all look so bland and boring. I have a year subscription because of my new phone so I might check some of the other stuff that arrives later.
 

Deleted member 42055

User requested account closure
Banned
Apr 12, 2018
11,215
They did try. They actually offered JJ more money than Warners, but he went with Warners anyways because of all the baggage Apple has.

Ah, dang good on JJ. Ive been out of that loop for so long, remember hearing so many horror stories out of writers l, creative from Amazon's TV development . That a lot of the time it was just people in charge wanting what they wanted regardless of quality and they knew they had all the money in the world to keep throwing at it. Talked now about working at HBO instead was their dream. Ngl quite a few of those people seemed really jaded at times. Amazon has def righted the ship though with their content and I will love them forever for saving The Expanse ( it's just a figure of speech I know how shitty Amazon is haha)
 

ArchStanton

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,269
I expect the first couple years to be rough. Apple has no institutional knowledge about making TV shows or movies, and, unlike a hardware of software solution, you can't really automate things and hope some engineers just "figure it out."

Hollywood is all about relationships. You need executives who have relationships with talent (in front of and behind the camera) and you also need a support infrastructure that works at an operational level to both produce and market the shows.

Despite Apple's money, if they keep spending stupid amounts of money on TV shows, they'll be taken to the cleaners by various production companies until they chalk this up to a giant failed experiment in a few year's time.
 

NTGYK

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt-account
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
3,470
Instead of sexual harassment allegations, they should have just had Steve Carrel's character in Morning Show have a hilarious sex tape released. Like, him just ripping cocaine, pissing on hookers, playing with weird sex toys, and then just play everything straight.
 

Quinton

Staff Writer at TheGamer / Reviewer at RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
17,624
Midgar, With Love
Amazon: The Expanse; upcoming Wheel of Time and LOTR shows
Netflix: The Crown; Stranger Things
All Access: Star Trek: Discovery; Star Trek: Picard
Disney+: Star Wars: The Mandalorian; Star Wars: Obi Wan; Star Wars: Cassian Andor
Peacock (lol): Untitled Battlestar Galactica show

Yeah, that's it for me. I don't want the rest, Apple least of all.
 

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,240
Remember Apple Ping trying to get into the social media game? This feels like the same thing.

And this is someone who is sort of an apple guy who has an iphone/macbook
 

Fhtagn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,615
I feel like Apple is going through what Microsoft was going through years ago, and that's a lack of identity and chasing trends. Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade are so ridiculously late to the game, so unbelievably unneeded, and just not a smart usage of Apple's brand or money.

Apple Arcade is great and well curated, and delivering a library of games that don't do freemium bullshit was so unbelievably needed. I had just stopped playing games on my phone almost entirely in the last couple years and now I'm enjoying it again.

That said, none of the TV+ offerings appeal to me.
 

TangFei

Banned
Aug 18, 2019
179
I only care about For All Mankind because of Ronald Moore, and most of the time I never agree with reviews so I´ll still be watching.
 

Mindwipe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,327
London
I think Apple's biggest problem is the only show that had any chance of travelling outside of the US (this is a staggering line up of shows that are very US focused) is See, which is by all accounts is a total stinker.

If these were network shows, you'd pick them out as the ones that wouldn't sell internationally.
 

Extra Sauce

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,011
I wouldn't count Apple out based on reviews since a lot of bland mediocrity is popular. maybe that's the market they're going after...
 

VeePs

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,425
Rated higher than Game of Thrones Last Season

Game of Thrones last season was trash, fans hated it, D&D have cancelled appearances, threads on it on this very forum was full of back lash.

So "higher than GoT last season" is a very very low bar.

Dickinson trailer looked good tho so I might give that a go.
 

MinusTydus

The Fallen
Jul 28, 2018
8,290
"Hey, we're launching a brand new subscription service with a pitiful amount of launch content... should we maybe make this available on more than just 'select' devices?"

"NO!"

"Maybe a PS4 app? Put it on the Google Play Store so we could get Android users to buy into our ecosystem?"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!"
 

MalcomFleX

Alt account
Banned
Sep 9, 2019
593
Rated higher than Game of Thrones Last Season

52qqIg5.jpg
When the bar is so low for Apple superfans, you know Apple has a problem.

"Hey, we're launching a brand new subscription service with a pitiful amount of launch content... should we maybe make this available on more than just 'select' devices?"

"NO!"

"Maybe a PS4 app? Put it on the Google Play Store so we could get Android users to buy into our ecosystem?"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!"

They're on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV. They got the majors covered at least. Should really be on Xbox and PS4 like Disney is doing though. They've been planning this release for ages, you'd think they could have come up with more apps by now.
 

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,138
It doesn't have to be Apple originals / exclusives catalog.
A catalog of licensed movies and series (even if they are old) is important for a service like this.
They're not licensing anything and don't seem to plan to. Plus, I don't think there's going to be much available as companies start holding on to their content for their own usage. It's going to be a lot more difficult to license content moving forward for the time being as companies want existing contracts to expire and not create new ones. So Apple is in a position where they don't have much to offer, the stuff they are offering isn't looking good, and they can't rely on old content even licensed from elsewhere. It's probably a good thing they're giving it away for free otherwise this launch would be abysmal.
 

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,422
There was someone here on Era who had the best response to the trailer for See when it aired during the Keynote. He said something like "Finally I can see my favorite SyFy originals on the big screen!"
 

MrMephistoX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,754
I mean an all you can eat iTunes Movies s
It doesn't have to be Apple originals / exclusives catalog.
A catalog of licensed movies and series (even if they are old) is important for a service like this.

If they could somehow negotiate all the content available on iTunes to be available at a monthly price that would be incredible but obviously the license holders would never allow it...although they somehow did it with Apple Music/iTunes so I guess anything's possible when/if some of the other streaming services fold. I think long term Disney, WB, and Amazon are the trifecta competing w Netflix...maybe Sony Viacom and NBC would be game to partner with Apple if their products fail?