CUPERTINO — Every year, Apple summons the press to its campus here to tout new features of an iPhone, and pours it on to convince…
CUPERTINO — Every year, Apple summons the press to its campus here to tout new features of an iPhone, and pours it on to convince us that we have to upgrade to the new model.
For its new entertainment service, TV+, Apple took a different approach. No details or news on how much it will cost. Instead, it just trotted out its star talent, like Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, to hype us.
Because selling stars, not technology features, is clearly how Apple plans to get consumers to pay to watch yet another subscription service.
The service is from your friend Apple, and it promises bigger star-power than Netflix or Amazon.
That is, debatable. Amazon has Julia Roberts starring in the series Homecoming, and Netflix has put its big-name money on comedians like Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, talent like Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and movies with the likes of Sandra Bullock and, of course, Roma, which many Oscars.
Netflix and Amazon market by telling us we’ll find stuff we want to watch and have a good time. Apple’s pitch is a variation on the old MGM boast from the 1943 Hollywood heyday that it had “more stars than are in heaven,” under contract.
Cook even ended his presentation with a variation of the old MGM photo, assembling his star talent for a massive group photo.
