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Apple picks a fight with Netflix by eyeing original content

De-throning Netflix is an uphill battle

Apple logo Credit: Apple
Michael Desjardin
Written by Michael Desjardin, Senior Staff Writer who's reviewed and compared over 100 TVs.

Updated January 12, 2017

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With Samsung coming off a rough year of watching its smartphones and washing machines actually explode, Apple is positioning itself to make a two-pronged attack against both Spotify and Netflix. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is currently in talks to sink a whole bunch of money into developing original content—both episodic and feature-length—for its streaming platform, Apple Music.

Apple is positioning itself to make a two-pronged attack against both Spotify and Netflix.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is hunkering down with veteran TV producers and high-profile marketing executives to discuss the ins and outs of developing and promoting scripted content that it would ostensibly offer via Apple Music, the $10-a-month platform that's still lagging behind Spotify despite a relatively strong launch.

Apple envisions this future content competing with the likes of HBO's Westworld and Netflix's Stranger Things.

If the details of the report are true, Apple envisions this future content competing with the likes of HBO's Westworld and Netflix's Stranger Things, both of which cost a heck of a lot of money to produce. Not only would Apple be getting itself into the game quite late, but it'd have to find a way to increase its subscriber base so that its content actually competes at a level that justifies the type of figures that go along with those productions. As recent as 2014, for instance, Amazon reportedly spent nearly $1.3 billion on original programming—a cost that has apparently doubled since then.

So, color us skeptical. Netflix, HBO, and Amazon are heavy-hitters, after all; to jump into the race now is a tall order. If Apple truly intends to compete, it's going to have to open up the coffers and put its money where its mouth is.

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