As I predicted, Apple’s “intrusive” executives are slowing down production of the firm’s TV and movie efforts specifically because they will not allow adult content. And by adult content, I don’t mean sex or porn: I mean, content that any reasonable adult would consider compelling.
This is what happens when the nanny state acts as a gate-keeper to the devices it sells to consumers. So not only is Apple working to prevent certain kinds of content from appearing on users’ iPhones and iPads. It is explicitly working to prevent specific content from appearing there.
According to a report in The New York Post, content makers are freaking out over how difficult Apple is to work with, citing its “lack of transparency,” “lack of clarity,” and “intrusive executives,” which, yes, includes the biggest nanny of them all, CEO Tim Cook.
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“Tim Cook is giving notes and getting involved,” a producer who has worked with Apple told the publication. One of the CEO’s most repeated notes is “don’t be so mean!,” the source said.
Don’t be so … mean? Oh man.
That Cook is personally involving himself in the production of shows that will air on Apple’s coming video service was confirmed by multiple sources. Cook only wants content that is family friendly, and he refuses to air anything controversial, like content about religion or the negative uses of technology. That Cook is doing this, of course, is perhaps more controversial than the topics he’d prefer to avoid.
“Apple will make only wholesome, G-rated content in a world that is drenched by the R-rated super-hits we see from HBO, Hulu, Netflix, and others,” I noted last month. “Most TV shows don’t fit neatly into the Disney-like Puritan worldview of Tim Cook and today’s Apple.”
I also made another prediction in that post: That Apple, like Microsoft before it, will discover that creating content—as opposed to just distributing it—makes no sense at all for the firm. “It’s just not in Apple’s wheelhouse,” I wrote.
dontbe evil
<p>hopefully they'll kill their self with their stupidity and arrogance</p>
Stooks
<p>I predict this and their new "News" service will fail hard. Apple = iPhone/iPad. Everything else is "meh" at best. </p><p><br></p><p>Their iPhone/iPad business is being driven by huge momentum and their false "privacy" stance which is only a thing because they sell hardware and limited services tied to that hardware. If they deepened upon ad sales like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others their privacy stance would be completely different.</p><p><br></p><p>That said they have lots of "meh" products that make serious money for now. (Watch, Mac etc).</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#409165">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well I think it is the over priced products that are driving the customers away (iPhone and Mac sales down).</p>
PeterC
<p>Come on Paul, your missing the “play” here. Apple are demonstrating what a responsible platform vendor looks like. The volume of families on iOS and family content controls needs is huge and set to become a key selling point for Apple. They’re making sure when parents set parental controls that lock out Netflix, Amazon, you tube content their Apple streaming content remains accessible and viewable… </p><p><br></p><p>I clung onto windows mobile because of the excellent windows/Xbox parental controls. Now that’s gone iOS is the natural choice, not android/google. </p><p><br></p><p>If you want content that’s more violent, sexually orientated or edgy there’s plenty of places to obtain this – why would apple spend money on an already well stocked market place. </p><p><br></p><p>Better to offer what paying parents want for their children and be ready for the next gen of internet data privacy laws and content/copyright restrictions being negotiated and discussed regionally around the world.</p><p><br></p><p>all my points above don’t mean Apple won’t make some appalling content decisions either, but in my opinion the play they’re developing will become more apparent in 6 months or so, especially in Europe.</p>
PeterC
<blockquote><em><a href="#409186">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Agreed, the MS parental controls were excellent for my sons laptop Xbox and mobile, admittedly lacking certain apps, but that’s gone now. I still use the Xbox settings to a degree but it’s ios for mobile and tablet I have to work on now for him. I don’t think iOS parental controls are great at the moment and as I posted I reckon they’re making a play to parent led sales here for the streamed content and Apple/iOS as a “responsible” platform provider in contrast to Facebook google etc including user data privacy. </p>
dontbe evil
<blockquote><em><a href="#409186">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>too complex for apple</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#409180">In reply to PeterC:</a></em></blockquote><p>So instead of being the parent you want Apple or Microsoft or Google to be?</p>
m_p_w_84
<p>There's plenty of competition in this space. If the content from Apple isn't competitive the service will fail. Simples. </p>
PeterC
<blockquote><em><a href="#409187">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>Nope. I’m simply pointing out what in my opinion Apple are doing.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#409274">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>??</p><p><br></p><p>I rented both of those movies off of iTunes. You can do that right now, even purchase them. Apple does not make those movies and will not make something like them but they will sell them. </p>
skane2600
<p>"nanny state"? What is, this the principality of Apple?</p><p><br></p><p>No need to parade out tired old tropes. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#409294">In reply to locust infested orchard inc:</a></em></blockquote><p>Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. There's a problem when anyone is telling artists would should or should not be art. Unfortunately, it's always been the case from patrons of the Middle Ages onward. Over the years "Hollywood" has been all over the map with respect to liberal and conservative content both politically and socially. "I love Lucy" was shockingly provocative by using the word "pregnant" to describe a women who was "in a family way". </p><p><br></p><p>Apple is free to make its own choices, but let's not wrap their control in some noble flag.</p>
wocowboy
Premium Member<p>It is NOT censorship when a PRIVATE company decides they do not want to be known for producing or selling porn, or any specific type of content for that matter, to their customers. If the owner of a convenience store does not want to sell Penthouse in their store, that is just fine, and is not censorship. They have the perfectly legal right to determine what is sold in their privately-owned store. If the government owned the store, it would be censorship if they refused to sell Penthouse. The government is not telling Apple what they can and cannot produce for their video service beyond what laws exist, and if Apple wants to abide by those laws a little more than what is stated in those laws, fine and dandy. I have no problem with what Apple or Tim Cook is doing. The service will either succeed or fail based on what they produce, the market will decide. They are not required by the government or anyone to produce pornography or "edgy" content. </p>