During a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said users will be able to pre-order the new Apple TV starting Monday, with the devices set to start shipping later next week. Touting the new device’s ability to search across multiple streaming services and interact with apps, Cook said the company has “developed an infrastructure to fix [a] terrible broken thing that none of us like.” Although Apple hasn’t yet secured all the deals it will need to start its own streaming TV service, Cook said the new Apple TV lays a foundation for changing the TV experience away from “linear viewing,” which has outlived its usefulness.
(Cook didn’t mention a similar firm release date for the upcoming iPad Pro.)
Later in the discussion, Cook dodged questions about the company’s rumored electric car project, but said Apple sees electrification, software and autonomous driving capabilities as integral components of the cars of the future. “That industry is at an inflection point for massive change, not just evolutionary change,” he said.
The CEO was more forthcoming about Apple Music subscriber numbers, saying the company has 6.5 million paid subscribers and another 8.5 million in the midst of free trials, bringing the total user base to around 15 million. While that total is still far behind Spotify’s 20 million subscribers and 75 million active users, Cook said he was confident that human curation would set Apple’s service apart in the long run.
