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Apple's ambitious plan to dethrone Netflix
From the continent to the content. Apple decided not to be just another apple in the basket - bad joke - of the television industry and will make the change coming in like an elephant in a crystal store. In the midst of a war for hegemony of the business model between traditional networks and streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, the Cupertino giant promises to blast the battlefield with its checkbook and contacts. A billion dollars ($ 3.5 billion) of investment as an entry and a miracle already credited to his account: the return to the screen, fifteen years later, of who was his undisputed queen, Jennifer Aniston. A strategy put in place in March and whose landing and operation is still a mystery to the viewers. We will try to answer later.In the early days of 2018 the same headline appeared in the press economics notebooks: "Apple intends to buy Netflix." Capitalizing on President Trump's policy of tax cuts to large corporations, analysts predicted up to 40 percent of the Cupertino giant's chances of acquiring the streaming platform would be solved with a penchant for their desire to enter the content-making business. Others even spoke of Disney as an object of desire. In a debate promoted by the South by Southwest festival in March, however, the visible head of Apple's ambitious plan, Eddie Cue, has silenced the rumors. "Overall, in Apple's history, no major acquisitions have been made," adding a clue about his intentions to a classic ice hockey metaphor: "skid where the disk will go, not where it is now."
The disc of television and film fiction is currently in the hands of Netflix. Why then did Apple discard your purchase? Company policy led by Reed Hastings may be to blame. "There is a difference, we do not look for quantity, we seek quality. We do not try to be the ones that sell the most smartphones and apps in the world, we try to be the best, "said Cue. Netflix, with approximately 80 movies and 700 original series available for 2018, seems to follow a very different business model from the one exposed in these statements. Apple decided not to join the enemy and fight against it, however late its current position on the grid. Located in the context of the Music application, his only projects are limited to the James Corden Carpool Karaoke series and the Planet of the Apps contest; both far from creating any signs of concern in their potential rivals.


In the photo above: Tim Cook, with James Corden and Pharrell in 'Carpool Karaoke'.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the company led by Tim Cook has prepared one billion dollars to start debuting its own series in the next four months. While staying away from Netflix's $ 7 billion ($ 24 billion) invested and Amazon's $ 4 billion ($ 14 billion), its strategy based on lower production and device hegemony will immediately put it as a rival to consider. And for a company that currently has more than $ 260 billion ($ 916 billion) in cash-only reserve, the investment will be almost insignificant in its book of accounts. The executive team was set up as an All-Star of television programming, among which stand out two signings: Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. Coming from Sony Pictures Television, they have their curricula in the production of such highly acclaimed series as Breaking Bad, The Crown and Justified.But it's the artistic industry that has made more headlines to the future Apple Video project. Trying to stick to the motto of "less quantity, more quality", the technology company decided to bet on the right. Jennifer Aniston will return to the big screen for the first time since the end of the mythical Friends series in 2004, accompanied by Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies) in Top of the Morning. Apple beat Netflix and HBO in a bidding contest to stay with the fiction that will chronicle the day-to-day lives of members of a morning television show. The trust of the multinational is so great that, without even having started filming, it has already renewed it for two seasons of ten chapters each. Witherspoon will also produce two more fictions for the apple company: the thriller Are You Sleeping, starring Octavia Spencer (The Lady in the Water), and another awaited television return: Kristen Wiig (Madrinha's Wedding Mission) of Saturday Night Live, a still untitled comedy.
The hiring of big names does not end there. Steven Spielberg will produce the remake of his own 80's series Amazing Stories, with a budget of more than $ 5 million ($ 17 million) per episode. Damien Chazelle (La La Land: Singing Seasons), announced by many as heir to the title 'King Midas' of the film industry, will also be in charge of writing and directing a drama that is only known to be 'innovative'. M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) will contribute to the supernatural gender quota; Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, Love Sick writers, will write a comedy about the lives of immigrants called Little America; and even Kevin Durant, the star of the Golden State Warriors, will debut as producer with a series based on his debut as a basketball player on the streets of Washington.The only thing that Apple still holds as unknown is when and how. Although there is no confirmed date, it all seems to be in March 2019 when the fictions begin to reach the general public. Regarding the format, experts predict a subscription-based streaming service, accessible through application and Apple TV that should be the flagship of the entire project. The questions that remain unanswered are several: how much will the service cost? Will Apple prevail by making it difficult for consumers to access their competitors' devices? Will it also produce, like Netflix and HBO, content outside the United States? How will your rivals respond? The so-called "best brand in the world" for five consecutive years already has in its account the failure of Apple Music as hegemonic musical platform, can not afford another disappointment. And all this just when another giant, no less than the social network Facebook, has just announced the next production of a fictional series with Catherine Zeta-Jones for its Watch platform. Everyone wants their pie slice in the big bubble of international television fiction. Who will not be able to prove it?

Source: elpais.com