Feb 14, 2017

How Apple is selling its "Planet of the Apps" show

Apple VP Eddy Cue offered insight at Recode's Code Media conference on Monday into the company's upcoming exclusive show, "Planet of the Apps:" It's about culture.

The show: The premise is simple. Vetted app makers have 60 seconds to pitch their app idea to the show's star judges—Will.i.am, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuck, and Jessica Alba—for the chance of getting one of them as a coach. In the end of weeks of mentoring, those select few will present in front of partners from Lightspeed Venture Partners (Snapchat's earliest VC investor). It's like "Shark Tank" for the app world.

"Rubber banding:" Because the show will be available via Apple Music's app, this means viewers will be able to pause an episode and look through content about one of the entrepreneurs, an app, or one of the investors. Viewers can stretch into one aspect of the episode, then get right back to watching what happens—like a rubber band.

Culture: In the end, Cue argues that the show, like the rest of Apple Music, is about culture. Music is just one component of culture. MTV, for example, which got its start as a music video channel, hasn't always produced only shows about music.

What about Netflix? Asked why Apple wants to make its own shows instead of buying content makers like, say, Netflix, Cue said his company can produce unique content and doesn't need to go that route.

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