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Comment by kevinventullo | Hacker News Reader

Maybe not quite the same, but I will point out that “Apple TV” and “Apple TV+” are not just two distinct products, but are in fact entirely different categories of product.

One is a piece of hardware akin to a Roku. The other is a streaming service akin to Netflix.

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If you ever take a customer survey for Apple, for the "which Apple products do you use?" question they always have to write something like "Apple TV (a streaming box that plugs into your TV)" and "Apple TV+ (an online streaming service)" because they know the names are so confusing.

Apple TV is also an iOS app, macOS app, tvOS app, and [other generic TV OS] app which allows you to access Apple TV+ content if you have a subscription, but otherwise lets you access services connected to your Apple TV [hardware].

Actually it's more that Apple TV is both a piece of hardware and an iTunes-like service, while Apple TV+ is a subscription service akin to Netflix.

The Apple TV hardware and the Apple TV app on your iDevice can both be used without paying a subscription. The hardware has all other streaming apps a la Roku, and both it and the app on your iPhone can be used to purchase and watch TV shows and movies.

Hello, would you like to watch Apple TV+ or Apple TV Channels on your Apple TV app on your Apple TV?

I use both and I haven’t found it too confusing, to be honest. I just think of it as Apple TV (streaming device) gives access to Apple TV+ (streaming service).

It would just mean there are somethings you found confusing but others don't and vice versa. But you come swinging like you have done survey of Fortune 500 companies and Google stood out in naming confusion.

I don't have to survey Fortune 500 when things are plainly obvious.

Hangouts, Allo, Duo, Buzz, Google Talk, GChat, Inbox, Messenger, Messages, Bard, Gemini, etc. Who else has a track record of chopping and changing like this?

> things are plainly obvious.

To you. You are projecting.

I guess there are people for whom Google’s constant changes do make sense. One has to simply keep up with their frequent announcements!

https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-app/

Apple TV (app) gives access to Apple TV+ (streaming service)

Apple TV is mostly associated with the hardware streaming boxes they've been releasing for a long time, Apple TV the app is just an app that performs a similar task on non-TVs. TV+ is available on both of them. Still, there's a bit of confusion around the naming.

In my mind:

- AppleTV - the all things tv stuff from Apple that I pay once for

- AppleTV+ - all things tv stuff from Apple that I have to pay every month for

Interesting framing!

I guess the + is like the + sign on a calculator ;)

Thanks to Disney, "+" is the industry term for "Streaming"

One company using it doesn't make it the "industry" term. It was the copycats that followed like Apple and Paramount that made it into an industry term. It kind of makes sense for Paramount, but really doesn't for Apple. Par for the course for Apple TV+, barely baked content on a barely baked poorly named service.

Disney+ Paramount+ AppleTV+ Discovery+ in addition to to 4 or 5 more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streaming_media_servic...

It's an industry term now.

Odd, I’m not a huge fan of many things Apple is doing these days, but I’ve consistently found their homegrown content to be very high quality.

I've watched 3 shows on Apple TV+ - Extrapolations, The Morning Show, and Ted Lasso. All of them start very promisingly (as in, the premise is good, the initial setup of actors/sets/etc. is promising, there is lots of potential ways it could go) but they're all superficial, get very predictable, and then the quality steeply goes downhill after a point. All three could have been way better, and had vastly more promise than what they delivered. It was enough to make me cancel the service.

I didn't think Apple copied anyone. Pretty much all their subscriptions have had plus like iCloud+ and Fitness+.

That was them copycatting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%2B "Disney+ was launched on November 12, 2019"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICloud "In June 2021, Apple introduced iCloud+..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_(Apple) "Apple Fitness+ is an ad-free video on demand guided workout streaming service announced during Apple's September 2020 Special Event"

Apple has been using + way before Disney. Apple care+, iPhone 6 Plus and I’m pretty sure they had another plus product or service in the 2000s or earlier that I’m forgetting right now. Edit: it was the Mac plus from 1986.

I’ve always associated “plus” with Apple, not with Disney.

"Plus" has always meant "bigger" or "more".

Copycats did it... thanks to Disney.

> Thanks to Disney, "+" is the industry term for "Streaming"

Google+ was too far ahead of its time!

Isn't it closed ?

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