Ever since Apple first unveiled its TV streaming service back in 2019, analysts (and competitors) have wondered why Apple TV+ truly exists. But now, in a new interview, CEO Tim Cook and other Apple execs have shared fresh insight into the streamer’s origins, and why Apple TV+ is just now hitting its stride.
Tim Cook and Eddy Cue detail the origins of Apple TV+
Apple is about to premiere its biggest movie ever with F1: The Movie. To mark the occasion, Tim Cook and other executives sat down with Cynthia Littleton at Variety for a discussion not only of F1, but also Apple’s film and TV ambitions more broadly.
Their conversation includes a host of interesting quotes regarding how Apple’s top leaders view Apple TV+.
On the matter of Apple getting into the streaming game in the first place, here’s Cook:
“We studied it for years before we decided to do [Apple TV+]. I know there’s a lot of different views out there about why we’re into it. We’re into it to tell great stories, and we want it to be a great business as well. That’s why we’re into it, just plain and simple.”
Cook fleshes this out a little more:
Cook explains that Apple is at heart “a toolmaker,” delivering computers and other devices that enable creativity in users…“We’re a toolmaker,” Cook says again. “We make tools for creative people to empower them to do things they couldn’t do before. So we were doing lots of business with Hollywood well before we were in the TV business.”
Services head Eddy Cue echoes these comments and adds a little more flavor.
“We’ve always thought that art was a big piece of the DNA of who we are,” he says. “But we never expected to be creating movies or TV shows.” Yet as streaming platforms proliferated, “we saw that the world was changing, and it seemed like everybody was going after quantity. We thought there was an opening for us, if we really focused on high quality,” he says.
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