Apple TV+ is live. You can start watching from the Apple TV app on your iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, online at tv.apple.com and on a whole bunch of non-Apple devices. Remarkably, Apple is the low-cost provider in the space. It’s free if you purchased an Apple device recently, and it’s free for 7-days if you just want to check it out. When you do start paying, it will only cost $4.99/month for up to six users. Apple is even offering a “deal.” If you act now, you get 12 months for the price of 10. Too good to be true? I’ll let you be the judge. Begun, the streaming wars have.
Apple TV+ is launching with eight original shows. The windowing is interesting. All ten episodes of Dickenson are available today, but their three other big shows, The Morning Show, For All Mankind, and See are being windowed-out three episodes at a time. Fascinating. (Netflix is starting to window releases too — hummm… maybe the anti-churn techniques of our ancestors were developed for good reason?)
TV critics have given Apple TV+ content mixed reviews. These reviews are totally irrelevant. Apple has an unimaginably large installed user base of the wealthiest, most aspirationally-driven people in the world. (In every other case, Apple is the high-cost provider by a wide margin.) Apple’s built-in audience will sample the content because the price is right – free is very pro-consumer. Then users will decide if the content satisfies their entertainment needs. Critics need not weigh-in. Not yet.
Will Apple TV+ become a major force in video content? Interesting question, but maybe not the right question. Think about this… Apple is in the hardware business and this will help them sell more hardware. While it’s true that Apple TV+ content is available on non-Apple devices, it is a pretty obvious “loss leader” go-to-market strategy. That said, if Apple TV+ contributes to Apple’s hardware ecosystem the same way Apple Music, iTunes, Podcasts and apps have, this “loss leader” is going to work out just fine for our friends in Cupertino. As they like to say in the TV business, stay tuned.
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Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.