Sources familiar with the matter told The Financial Times that Apple intends to ramp spending on original content production to the tune of “several hundred million dollars a year”. According to the financial newspaper, Apple was also interested in buying Time Warner last year.
I have a confession to make...
It's become painfully obvious to me, glancing at my purchase history, that I've reached a point in my computing life where I'm now a big iTunes spender. To my astonishment, in the past year or so I've been burning money on apps, media and services at a clip of a hundred bucks each month. That's actually a conservative estimate. Realistically, my iTunes spending is somewhere in the ballpark of $150-$200 per month.
To look at it another way, that's $1,200-$2,400 in annualized services revenue for Apple from this particular customer, excluding my hardware purchases. When this much cash is getting sucked out of my pocket by Apple, I can't help but admit the company must be doing something right when it comes to digital media and services.
I realize $100 per month is a lot of money to burn on digital entertainment. I'm not going to preach on issues of morality here nor will I suggest that everyone should spend that much, or spend anything at all in the iTunes and App Stores.
What I'm getting at is this: despite dropping significant cash on apps, media and services, I've never felt buyer's remorse. Why? Because I'm getting value for my money and, after all, Apple is just a middleman. To put it bluntly, I'd rather spend my hard earned cash to support those who create content for a living than blatantly steal their hard work.
Here's what a $100 spent in Apple's content stores buys me, why I don't think I'm being ripped off and how the sense of satisfaction I get in return makes it all worthwhile for me.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Hulu has been busy putting together a cable-like subscription offering that'd include content from partners like Disney and Fox while providing such advanced features as a cloud-based digital video recording (DVR) capability, live TV and more. The service sounds a lot like a rumored skinny TV bundle that Apple's been unsuccessfully trying to create.
Analysts have estimated that Hulu may charge consumers about $40 per month for the yet-to-be-announced service, which won't launch before 2017.
The slow but inevitable fraying of the cable TV bundle continues unabated. One major network after the other is relenting and finally appeasing cord-cutters with online-only streaming packages that don't require a cable subscription.
As a result, the modern customer today is faced with an ever increasing number of options. If you've arrived at the conclusion that Netflix no longer offers the biggest bang for your buck and want to cancel your streaming plan, you've come to the right place.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we'll take you through the process of cancelling your Netflix membership and closing your account, regardless of whether you signed up for the service through the website or on your Apple TV or iOS device. As a bonus, we'll also lay out how to easily rejoin Netflix later on.
Apple has decided to back its first ever scripted television series that will star one of its own executives, Beats co-founder and rapper Dr. Dre (real name Andre Young). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the top-secret project is dubbed “Vital Signs”. The production is reportedly “being bankrolled by Apple”.
The series will be likely distributed via Apple Music although the report doesn't make it clear if the iTunes Store will also carry the show so that Apple TV owners could stream it.
“The first season will roll out all at once, regardless of venue, a la Netflix,” sources told the publication, adding that Apple is said to be “very bullish on the project.”
As part of a new strategy following failed talks with major networks regarding licensing their programming for a rumored over-the-top iTunes video service, Apple is reportedly considering developing own TV shows to offer exclusively to its iTunes customers, The Street reported Friday. The publication's track record in predicting Apple's moves isn't great so take the story with a pinch of salt.
Citing two unnamed people with knowledge of the overtures, the report alleges that Apple is internally planning to announce exclusive content as part of a cable-like offering in September, as part of the iPhone 7 introduction.
Did you sign up for Netflix's $7.99 per month plan with high-definition streaming before new pricing tiers were unveiled?
If so, the company will reward your loyalty by slapping you with a price increase later this year, according to Netflix's letter to shareholders issued yesterday as part of the company's quarterly earnings release.
Grandfathered Netflix customers in the United States will have two choices: continue using their $7.99 per month plan, but only in standard definition, or choose to pay $9.99 per month to continue watching in high definition.
It's annoying when you download an Apple TV app for your favorite entertainment provider only to realize that you cannot access the service due to regional restrictions, the need to connect with your cable service or pay for the service.
Of all the third-party content provider apps available for download in the tvOS App Store, only a handful of services are available on a worldwide basis.
To save you some time, Apple has put together a handy support document which lists all the content providers available on the second, third and fourth-generation Apple TV.
I am a coloring book enthusiast. I have dozens of them, ranging in skill level from kid's books with wide lines to coloring books for adults, which are intricate and complex. I have a wide variety of tools from Prismacolor pencils to brush tip markers. I've been coloring since I was a toddler and I've never stopped. Ever.
So, when Pixite told me about its new coloring book app, Pigment, I immediately scoffed at the idea. Coloring book apps are a joke. They don't get it. They don't provide the stress-relieving comfort that actual coloring does. However, after testing the app for about two weeks now, I'm singing a different tune. Check out my full app review of Pigment below to find out what changed my mind.
Amazon recently delighted its iOS-toting users by allowing offline viewing of Prime Instant Video movies and television shows, but don't count on Netflix offering the same feature anytime soon.
Gizmodo reached out to Netflix and asked the company why it won't change its firm stance that it's not going to offer offline downloads through its mobile applications and the official company line is eyebrow-raising.
After CBS announced a month ago that it would soon appease cord-cutters by rolling out a standalone video-streaming service over the Internet, Re/code revealed Tuesday that the network's premium cable television service called Showtime is now available through the Apple TV, no cable subscription required.
The standalone video-streaming service is available on Apple's $69 media-streaming box in exchange for a flat monthly fee of $10.99 with iTunes billing. A free 30-day free trial is available provided you have set up a valid payment method in iTunes.
A matching iOS app is coming at a later stage.
Showtime, a CBS-owned premium cable television service, has taken the plunge and will offer a standalone video-streaming service over the Internet with Apple as its first partner, the company confirmed Wednesday.
Simply called Showtime, the service will cost $10.99 per month and will be hitting the Apple TV, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on July 12 ahead of season premier of several shows such as Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex.
A free 30-day trial will be available to new customers who sign up through Apple in July. Like HBO Now, Showtime's new service will be an Apple exclusive at launch.