I remember a number of years ago when Apple announced that iTunes would allow users to buy TV shows and movies. This seemed a bit strange: using iTunes which was created to manage music to deal with and manage other types of media like movies.
I sensed that Apple felt they had an app with iTunes that everyone loved and used so they would just tack on extra services to iTunes rather than create another app or service brand.
Jump forward to when Apple acquired Beats and decided to launch Apple Music – its music streaming service that includes iTunes to manage the user’s own music and purchase other music through the iTunes Store.
The idea of owning your own music has slowly but surely transitioned over the past five years to being a world of streaming music from the cloud that has just about every song that’s ever been recorded. Having your own playlists made from the CD’s you have ripped over the past 20 years (like I have) makes less sense to younger people who don’t have a library of 200 or more CDs like people over 40 likely have. They just create a playlist from Apple Music (or using Spotify) which can then download the latest, most perfect recordings into that list. If you don’t have a legacy of previously acquired music, you just start with a massive library and download what you want whenever you want it.
But Apple clearly has more plans for its media assets. Recently, Bloomberg Business Week, published an article about Jimmy Iovine, a mogul in both music and media, is having talks to have Apple stream TV shows, movies, music, videos and a host of other (mixed) media. And with Apple’s recent announcement of plans to spend $1 billion (and, likely more) to create new content on par with Amazon or Netflix, they will soon have rich media content spanning music, TV, video and movies.
With all of these really amazing new rich media content that Apple will be creating and/or licensing from others, it seems like it is time for the company to behave like it has for so many times in the past: they completely reinvent themselves. From my position, it seems rather straightforward: Apple should abandon iTunes and Apple Music brands and, instead, create a new brand such as Apple Media and offer an insanely easy and intuitive way to navigate through all of the different types of content (e.g. music, movies, TV shows, user-generated content, licensing of content and creating of original content). Your iPhone or iPad or Mac/PC should provide easy ways to search and find the content you desire using a keyboard or voice interface to quickly find the media in which you’re interested and then direct it to be played on a large TV, a Mac or PC, an iPad or iPhone.
Here’s the way I envision Apple Media to look at its highest level: (Figure 1)
Making this transition now allows Apple to have an asset in which they can use for many years to come – offering any kind or rich media to users along with their famously easy way to pay for it. You can go to your Apple Media app to buy the latest movies or you can request a new movie that’s coming out within the next year. You can watch reruns of Seinfeld (doesn’t everyone?) or watch the latest TVs shows from the major networks or listen to your favorite music or (perhaps someday) get tickets to your favorite concert available when you’re listening to their music.
Apple Media. I can’t wait to start using it!
Dr. Gerry Purdy is Principal Analyst with Mobilocity LLC. He writes a weekly column called the Mobilocity newsletter. He is widely quoted in the press, and has appeared on a number of TV news shows such as MSNBC, Fox Business and CNN regarding mobile and wireless products. Purdy has a Ph.D. from Stanford University, an M.S. From UCLA and a B.S. from the University of Tennessee. Contact: [email protected], mobile 404-855-9494.
————–
Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column. If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.
