Speaking at the Code Conference, Eddy Cue and producer Ben Silverman talked about and released the first trailer of Apple’s upcoming Planet of the Apps show. The interview from both executives also revealed new information about the show.
The original premise of the show was introduced by Ben Silverman and Will.i.am who first pitched the idea to major networks. Ultimately, Will.i.am pitched the idea to Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue and things moved forward from there.
When questioned as to why make a TV show, Eddy Cue said that Apple saw it as “an opportunity to do new things. One was a project with Drake. With Planet of the Apps, it’s a “great story” — what does it take to be an app developer.” Plus, video will allow Apple Music to differentiate itself from other music streaming services out there.
The first trailer of the show also gives an idea of how it will work. Developers will first have to escalator pitch their idea to celebrity advisors Will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Gary Vaynerchuk. If they are able to sell their idea to a celebrity advisory within 60 seconds, they will get to work closely with the advisor and their team in development, marketing, and testing of the app. Ultimately, the app will be pitched by developers in front of Lightspeed Venture Partners, with the winner receiving $10 million in funding along with a featured spot on the App Store.
Producer Silverman agrees that Planet of the Apps will work because of Apple’s involvement and noted that celebrity advisors like Gwyneth Paltrow would not have taken part in the show if not for Apple.
New episodes of Planet of the Apps will be released every week starting this Spring on Apple Music to all regions of the world, and not just the United States. The episodes will also be available to stream through a Plant of the Apps application that will be released later. Eddy Cue confirmed that the show will be free of any ads and said that he was unsure if future Apple productions will also have ads or not since viewers are not particularly fond of them.
[Via Re/code]