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Comment by kryptiskt | Hacker News Reader

I have no idea why Apple even is in the content business at all, it's a low-margin business at best that requires continuous investment or the viewers will go somewhere else. It doesn't even help retain people in their ecosystem as they make apps for other platforms.

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It's a growth issue. Apple has done very well with Wall Street with devices in the last two decades, but Wall Street is an insatiable monsters always demanding more growth. Apple doesn't need to pivot, because they've got a tremendously successful device business. But they do need to expand to feed the monster.

Services (Content, iCloud, Fitness+, etc) are just one approach. They're trying AR (Reality Pro), Cars maybe?

>But they do need to expand to feed the monster.

Take that as given, it still doesn't explain why, among all business opportunities, Apple picked 1 An area they had little experience in 2 That already serves its customers well 3 That is according to OP low margin.

On (2): Cell phones in 2005 were way worse than Netflix, HBO, ESPN were when Apple would have been market-researching Apple TV+.

At the very least, the entertainment industry was familiar. They were already into the music scene for ~20 years, and had been cutting television content deals for about 15. It's not unreasonable to say that they knew some people they trusted whom they could hire to make it happen.

Products also have lifecycles. What is profitable now won’t be as profitable in 10 years if at all. iPhones seem to have plateaued for example, there’s not much change from 13 to 15, so there’s less incentive to buy one. So Apple does well to try and stay ahead of the curve.

Apple TV+ has never seemed like a core product to me though, just something they can bundle with iPhones and iPads to round out those products.

I use a SE 2020. I thought about getting a 14 when they introduced the “satellite phone” feature. Also thought about getting a 15 because it supports recording LOG video files.

My point is I’m not so sure it’s plateaued- I don’t buy them as often because I don’t like replacing things that still work, but they do keep adding more features that I’d be interested in. (And removing some, like headphone jacks and buttons)

I kind of wish businesses were like Unix command line tools. Do one thing and do it well.

In the future if your email service suspects you of being a spammer you will no longer be welcome at your local grocery store.

In that reality, what is the real life analog of TTY logic? What about whitespace escaping?

Point being, the Unix philosophy has its own issues, especially around the foundations of how it all glues together.

I don't think Apple, or any other cmpany to be honest, tech or not, needs "evil Wall Street" to put profit above everything else or be incredibly greedy.

The demands of wall street are infamous for being the difference between sustainably profitable and demanding growth at the detriment of other guiding principles

If you look at any lists of largest private companies, you’ll see many that are likely highly profitable but also very boring stay-in-their-lane type of businesses; businesses that know their cash cow and sticks to it. It’s Wall Street investment that tends to drives risky moves in pursuit of growth.

You’re right about profit. Every company wants profit.

Wall Street doesn’t care that much about profit. They care about growth.

Any action that will raise the stock price, even at the cost of customers or profit, is a win in their book.

After all, they’ll sell just before the party is over and make out like robber barons.

So it was evil wall streetvthat pushed innocent tech companies to pursue quasi monopolies insted of simple greed? I don't buy that narrative.

It reminds me of the show Billions when Axe talks about trying to own a NFL franchise. He's rich enough that it makes no difference, but it's the closest thing to knighthood in the US. When Mike Prince tries to get the Olympics to New York, he's not going to make more money. He's just raising public profile to run for President, and even becoming President won't make him any richer.

Why did Bezos buy the Washington Post? A lot of this just feels like a prestige play. It's new money trying to get taken seriously by old money. Even though new money actually has more money, they're still outsiders. Apple won a Best Picture Oscar within three years of launching their service, something Netflix has spent the last decade throwing billions at big-name director vanity projects to aim for. It's a dick measuring contest.

I think it's as simple as they have a ton of cash and they don't know what to do with it. This is well-documented. So they're just trying to put it to work. If it works, they get exclusive content that acts to strengthen the Apple ecosystem moat by creating even more reason and network effects to stick with Apple. As someone once told me, "I'd consider other phones and stuff, but Apple has me by the balls."

It has to be integrated into a product and software ecosystem, without running up against the brick wall of licensing content from a practically helpless negotiating position, the same problem that Netflix had to circumvent. In Apple's case they may not profit especially from content but it serves their ecosystem to have content they can be in control of.

Their live sports ambitions make sense to me.

In the future, it seems to me the major tech platforms are the most likely to buy the major sports leagues’ rights.

Having content now has allowed Apple a prime seat at that poker table. All the phones help too.

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