Apple Renames 'Apple TV+' To 'Apple TV' (daringfireball.net) 42
Apple has rebranded its streaming service Apple TV+ to simply Apple TV, further blurring the already confusing line between the Apple TV device, the Apple TV app, and the Apple TV service. As John Gruber notes, users can now "watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV." From Daring Fireball: In some ways, I get it. Like, if you're telling someone how much you enjoy Slow Horses and they ask how to watch it, it's more natural and conversational to just say "It's on Apple TV." That's what most people say. That's what I say -- and as part of my job, I completely understand the difference between Apple TV the device, Apple TV the (free) app, and Apple TV+ the (paid) streaming service.
But right there in Apple's own "About Apple TV" description, you see just how overused "Apple TV" now is. You can watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV -- the paid service in the free app on the set-top box. But you can watch any streaming service you want on the box, in that service's own app. But many of those services are also available in the Apple TV app. And the Apple TV streaming service is also available on just about all other popular set-top hardware platforms. So don't need an Apple TV to watch Apple TV. It's a bit like Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's on First" routine.
But right there in Apple's own "About Apple TV" description, you see just how overused "Apple TV" now is. You can watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV -- the paid service in the free app on the set-top box. But you can watch any streaming service you want on the box, in that service's own app. But many of those services are also available in the Apple TV app. And the Apple TV streaming service is also available on just about all other popular set-top hardware platforms. So don't need an Apple TV to watch Apple TV. It's a bit like Abbott and Costello's classic "Who's on First" routine.
That right there (Score:4, Informative)
Courage (Score:3, Funny)
Only Apple has the courage to remove the plus from their name.
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Knowing Apple, it's because they want to make an even more expensive version of Apple TV later and they wanted to call that Apple TV+.
I guess that Apple TV++ was just one too many plus signs for their marketing team.
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Nah, it will be Apple TV, Apple TV Plus, Apple TV Pro, and Apple TV Pro Max.
Re:Courage (Score:4, Interesting)
They should call the set top box "iTV", like they call an iPod an iPod, an iPhone an iPhone, an iMac an iMac, etc... Devices should have iDevice or iDevice Pro monikers.
Then, they should call the service "Apple TV", like "Apple Music", "Apple News", and other services "Apple (service)".
Re: Courage (Score:3)
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How about Apple TV Double Plus Good ?
They still spoon-feed weekly episodes so we don't hurt ourselves watching more than one episode at a time.
Re: Courage (Score:2)
Apple TV already spoon feeds weekly episodes. I think that the only streaming service that doesn't at this point is Netflix?
"watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV." (Score:4, Informative)
So you can Apple TV while you Apple TV!
Re: "watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV." (Score:3)
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Apple TV on my Apple watch, you say?
Re: "watch Apple TV in Apple TV on Apple TV." (Score:2)
Oh man! (Score:2)
Now every other service is going to have to drop the + from their names!
Doesn't Apple know how much work they are making for everyone?
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Now every other service is going to have to drop the + from their names!
Doesn't Apple know how much work they are making for everyone?
Except for WB. They'll turn HBO, HBOMax, Max. HBOGo, no, now it's just HBO, oh wait, ... into H+BO! They're always slow on the trends, but they'll rename the service six more times in the coming year so who cares?
Just keep making scifi (Score:2)
Apple seems more willing to put science fiction out in front of their lineup and overall does a pretty good job of it, feels like whoever they have doing the producing have not fallen into the trend chasing and cancel-at-first-oppurtunity that the other streamers do. Apple feels like they learned the lessons from the heydey of HBO more than current HBO has.
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I subscribed again to watch Silo. I was going to cancel after that, but then Foundation started again. Now I'm the next season of Invasion. Those fuckers have got me ;)
Then again, I just got Netflix Premium (should that be Plus?) for free with my new mobile phone contract (33 quid / month for unlimited speed and data and global roaming in over 80 countries with the almost 20 quid / month Netflix included!). While I've never been interested in Netflix, I'll probably find something to watch, and as I only
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Love Silo and love that Apple was willing to straight up give that show two more seasons and let the audience know the the show will get to complete the story.
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Invasion was so fucking boring!!!! I gave up on it sometime in the first season.
Even Severance made it 3 seasons (or was it only two?) before I gave up on it. Not because it was boring, it just got too fucking stupid to watch.
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Say It Again (Score:2)
Say Apple TV again.
I dare you. I double dare you, mother fucker.
Say Apple TV one more God damn time.
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Shenanigans!
This little stunt kind of worked. (Score:1)
Until 90 seconds ago I had forgotten that the AppleTV service exists. And I own an AppleTV. Now it will stay in my mindfor about 24 hours and then I’ll go back to not caring at all.
It was a dumb name to begin with (Score:2)
If you have a streaming box called Apple TV, calling a streaming service that has nothing to do with it Apple TV+, and an app that has nothing to do with it called Apple TV, is just going to create confusion, with or without a "+".
This proves my thesis that Apple jumped the shark on user friendliness shortly after Mac OS X 10.3.
Did they not see the confusion everyone has figuring out what's meant by Prime Video from Amazon? Is it the Prime Video app that lets you watch HBO? Is it the stuff you bought digita
Windows App (Score:2)
Thanks to Micro$oft's recent renaming of their Remote Desktop app, you can now watch Apple TV in Apple TV the Windows app in a window on Windows in Windows App on Windows.
Great job, marketing! Bonuses all around (Score:2)
Lots of value generated, there.
Where is my AppleTV? (Score:2)
We recently moved. My AppleTV was in a box of stuff near the TV. Wife relocated that box of stuff. No idea where. So it's in the house somewhere....but nobody knows where. Why she relocated that box of stuff is anyone's guess. It was five feet away from the TV in the TV room. Now? Who the fuck knows.
Ironically, the remote for it was lost in the sofa for the last 3 years or so. In the process of moving, we got it out of the sofa. So now I finally have the remote, but no AppleTV.
My only complaint about AppleTV (Score:2)
1). "Seasons" don't have enough episodes. They should be 3x longer.
2). There is way too much time between "seasons". This shit of taking 2-3 years is fucking ridiculous.
They make some really good shows. Stuff I actually want to watch and I really look forward to watching. But god damn! Stop stringing it out!!!
To be fair, every other streaming services does the same thing and I've got the same complaint about them. The difference is that Apple's stuff is so much better that I actually WANT to watch it. Every
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They are getting better at getting shows turned around faster. A few shows I watch are down to yearly releases this year. Hopefully that
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I read an article on this recently...maybe even on Slashdot, I don't remember.
It blamed the attention span of one of the useless generations, I don't remember which, alpha, beta, millennial, whatever, and their attention span. It claimed they want shorter seasons so they don't have to keep track of things for as long. Sounds plausible, but it sucks for everyone else.
It also claimed higher production values increased costs, and that was one reason for shorter seasons. This one makes little sense to me. I me
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Yea I hate the 8-10 episode seasons with huge gaps. I don't see the episode count changing anytime soon. 22+ episodes was part of the old-school first run then broadcast syndication model. Most of these shows will never see any syndication so they don't need to hit that 80 episode mark. Given the budget they are giving these shows, long seasons just are not coming back.
They will if they want viewers over age 30. I like shows where I can just keep watching episodes one after the next for a month, so nearly everything I watch is a decade old or more. It's not worth my time and effort to figure out whether I might like to watch a show if I'm going to run out of episodes in a day of viewing.
I can only think of one show that I've watched when it had fewer than 20 episodes, and I regret not waiting longer, because it would have been much more enjoyable watching three seasons
Blame binge watching. (Score:2)
The business cycle of the serial show used to be continuous production until a short hiatus, knowing one episode per week had to be in the can. This led to a bell curve of delivery. Most episodes were alright, some were crap, some were great. But thanks to truncated attention spans, people bail early if they're bored for a few minutes. And they expect to be able to binge the program.
Personally I like the idea of having shows trickle out an episode a week. Where this happens, I think there's a cultural conne
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Fuck the weekly drip. It's why I generally don't watch a show until all episodes of a season" are out. Then I can watch it, and not have to worry about it for another 2 years until the next season is out and over with.
I didn't watch Game of Thrones or Sopranos until the compete series were done with. I sure as fuck would not have wanted to watch them one week at a time. No way, no how.
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Why is that so important to you? How did you get to the point where the need for immediate gratification is so strong that you experience anger at the mere suggestion of it going unmet?
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Instant gratification? Why the fuck would anyone want to wait 5,6,7 years to see how a story ends?
Nobody waits that long to see how a book ends, why would they want to wait that long to see how a tv show ends?
That's the last straw! (Score:2)
I'm quitting Apple TV for good, I want my + back!
Wait, does anybody actually care about this?
Excellent news. (Score:2)
Now I can save a word when talking about that service to which I have had six free membership trials expire without ever having accepting them or subscribing
I have two Apple TV boxes. They are great kit. Love them. But the service never tempted me in the slightest.
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Too bad, there are a lot of great shows on there. One episode of one of them is probably the finest episode of any tv show I've seen anywhere.
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I used the free trial and there were a few things worth watching but by the end of the trial I'd watched them all.
And the Apple TV app is possibly the worst app I've ever had to use. They hide the movies I bought on iTunes in a mess of movies and TV shows that I would have to pay extra to watch. I can't help but feel that Jobs would have executed whoever came up with that idea.
And it is still not a TV. (Score:2)
+ads (Score:2)
Apple TV now means "the device and the shows". Maybe it won't be ALL the shows, but it will be plenty, and it will be free, and it will be on that Apple TV device. And then there will be a subscription tier- or more- that remove the advertisements.
That's my prediction!
This is as silly.... (Score:2)
...as Peter Gabriel naming his first three solo albums "Peter Gabriel."