Mac Pro Now Available

Roku CEO Talks About Apple TV+ Going Cross-Platform

Tuesday March 26, 2019 11:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple yesterday shared plans to bring its Apple TV app to multiple smart TVs and third-party set-top boxes, including the Amazon Fire TV and Roku. The TV app will house ‌Apple TV‌+, Apple's upcoming streaming service for its original content when it launches later this year.

Following Apple's announcement, Roku CEO Anthony Wood spoke to CNBC about Apple's decision to expand access to the TV app, expressing excitement that the content will be available on Roku devices.

Wood believes that Apple is "well-positioned" to be successful in the TV streaming market, despite its competitiveness, due to the company's large user base.

There were not a lot of details announced, but I think they're well-positioned to be successful. They've got a lot of experience with subscription services, they're investing a lot of money in content, and they've got a great brand and lots of loyal customers.

Wood went on to say that while Apple is counting on its iOS and macOS devices to "jumpstart" ‌Apple TV‌+, the importance of smart TVs should not be ignored.

When you have a TV streaming service, you know, obviously they're counting on jumpstarting that with all of their iPhone and iPad and Mac customers, but actually, smart TVs are the way that most streaming services - long form streaming services - are viewed by customers. That's where they spend most of their hours.

Roku, says Wood, is the leading streaming TV platform, and if Apple wants to be successful, Apple needs to be on Roku and other similar platforms.

For any kind of service like that to be successful, you want to be on the leading streaming TV platforms and Roku is the leading streaming TV platform. We're the leading distributor of streaming content in the U.S.

According to Wood, there are no real negatives to Apple entering the streaming market for Roku because Roku supports all streaming services to offer its customers choice. Roku isn't betting on any one company to come out ahead in the streaming market because Roku "works with everyone" and benefits from a large amount of content being available.

‌Apple TV‌+ will launch in the fall, but ahead of its debut, the newly revamped TV app will become available in May. Apple plans to bring the TV app to multiple third-party platforms, starting with Samsung Smart TVs. Later in the year, it will expand to Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku devices, and smart TVs from Sony, LG, and Vizio.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 13

Tag: Roku

Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Braderunner

10 months ago

I still can't get over what a waste of time that event was. We still know no details about Apple's tv service. Except the name!

Rating: 15 Votes

iMerik

10 months ago

Holy crap, why did I decide to read the comments? Roku adding support for Apples services is a good thing for Roku owners and could be good for Apple to expand its reach. No need to be so negative.

Rating: 11 Votes

Scottsoapbox

10 months ago

This guy is so low energy for a CEO.

Because high energy is the mark of a good CEO - wait that's fitness instructors. :rolleyes:

Rating: 6 Votes

WannaGoMac

10 months ago

With so many video streaming services all demanding subscriptions it's no wonder torrents are becoming more popular again unfortunately.

Shame video wouldn't follow the music model of multiple audio streaming companies able to provide about the same content.

Rating: 4 Votes

BJMRamage

10 months ago

I still can't get over what a waste of time that event was. We still know no details about Apple's tv service. Except the name!

but did you see all those celebrities? they would;dn't just get on stage for cheers or money, right?

Rating: 4 Votes

smulji

10 months ago

"Wood believes that Apple is "well-positioned" to be successful in the TV streaming market, despite its competitiveness, due to the company's large user base.

'There were not a lot of details announced, but I think they're well-positioned to be successful. They've got a lot of experience with subscription services, they're investing a lot of money in content, and they've got a great brand and lots of loyal customers.'"

I think Wood and Apple and a lot of others are greatly over-estimating the loyalty of longtime customers. I have been using Apple devices since 1981, which is more years than a large percentage of MacRumors members have been alive. I like my Apple devices, but I think Apple services blow big chunks. And judging by the posts I've read in many forums in the past few years, including this one, there are a lot of us so-called loyal Apple customers who hate Apple services but like Apple hardware. I have never liked any of Apple's services, and other than an occasional free trial have never used them long enough to pay a subscription. From what I saw yesterday, Apple just piddled all over itself with their services event. Apple was not prepared to make half of them available yet, nor did they give many details, and that suggests to me they are very clueless and ill prepared for those services. The two services that were made available both are extremely underwhelming. Financial experts are saying  Card is nothing special as has already been done by many companies like Amazon. Apple made no attempt to even compete in rewards with other companies. And from what I've seen trying to use the  New+ service it truly blows chunks. Why mix magazines in with news articles? Why use a clunky, crappy interface. What did they do with News Stand. It would have been a better interface than displaying scanned images of magazines like Smithsonian which have zero text formatting options, and magazines like National Geographic which does have a very few text formatting options but still looks bad in the News app interface. Meh... There is no way in hell I will pay for any of their services as long as they suck that bad. I will keep buying Apple devices as long as I can afford to, I have a new iPhone XR arriving today, but their services are over priced and not competitive enough to make me spend a single penny on any of them.

Once upon a time those same financial experts said Apple should not have entered brick-and-mortal retail and now they are the most profitable retailer (on a per square foot basis) globally. Those same financial experts also said the iPod would fail when it was first announced because Apple was late to the digital music segment and was proprietary. They also said iPhone would fail because it had no hardware keyboard and they offered nothing compelling over Blackberry & Nokia. Need I go on?

Rating: 3 Votes

fhopper

10 months ago

I want my Smart TVs to play the movies I own in iTunes. I want my Stupid TVs to play the movies I own in iTunes through all my streaming devices. I do not want my phone to be involved in watching the movies I own on iTunes.

Rating: 3 Votes

Classie

10 months ago

I still can't get over what a waste of time that event was. We still know no details about Apple's tv service. Except the name!

Why do you watch it? Or why don’t you stop watching at some point?
You seem to have a very limited amount of time and could easily just wait until the recap video the next day.
Just a tip.

Rating: 3 Votes

warp9

10 months ago

I still can't get over what a waste of time that event was. We still know no details about Apple's tv service. Except the name!

This type of Apple event reminds me of that rich kid who only has friends because he pays for their drinks.

Rating: 3 Votes

_Dubs_

10 months ago

So will I be able to watch my iTunes movies / shows via the Apple TV app on these devices? I have an Apple TV for my tv’s so it’s no big deal, but it would be nice to have that option, especially for someone like my mom who doesn’t have an Apple TV but does have a roku.

Rating: 2 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]