Apple Has “Intense Interest” in Becoming a Content Creator, Too
"It is an area that we're focused on."
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced on Tuesday that he has an “intense interest” in seeing Apple becoming a content creator in addition to its role as a ubiquitous tech giant.
Speaking during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, a questioner asked about the prospect of a possible foray into original Apple TV content. Cook suggested that Apple one day might seriously join its competitor Amazon, which produces original content like Catastrophe and Transparent in addition to its bevy of tech products.
“I would confirm that television has intense interest with me and with many other people here,” he said. “In terms of owning content and creating content, we have started with focusing on some original content as you point out we’ve got a few things going there that we’ve talked about and I think it’s a great opportunity for us, both from a creation point of view and an ownership point of view.
“It is an area that we’re focused on,” he concluded.
Apple announced that it might want to make original content as early as last fall. Apple Music has created original concert videos, and in March the company greenlit its first original show Vital Signs, an Apple Music series that will be loosely based on Dr. Dre’s “rags-to-riches story.” In March, Apple announced it would be making a show about apps, which seems almost too on-brand.
Apple Music created a concert video for Taylor Swift's '1989' tour in the past.
During the call, Cook was also asked about AT&T’s recent purchase of Time Warner, though nobody mentioned the multi-billion dollar elephant in the room by name. Apple executives met with people from Time Warner late last year, leading to some mumblings that Apple was interested in purchasing Time Warner itself. With that rumor assuredly in mind, Cook said Apple wouldn’t say no to a major, potentially content creating acquisition.
“We’re open to acquisitions of any size that are of strategic value where we can deliver better products to our customers and innovate more and so we look at a whole variety of companies and based on that we choose whether to move forward or not,” he said. “We’re definitely open and we definitely look.”
