Apple TV+ is now just Apple TV, and Apple’s senior vice president of Services says the change was simply the right moment to make it.
In a guest appearance on The Town podcast hosted by Matt Belloni, Eddy Cue discussed why the company decided to drop the “Plus” from Apple TV Plus and why Apple does not believe it will create confusion with its other products of the same name.
Cue said the decision was a collective one for Apple.
“I just decided, we just decided. Look, we put the plus in there because we’ve used it in our other services like iCloud+ and News+, but we do that when we have a free service and then there’s a paid version. We stayed consistent because of it, but we all called it Apple TV and we said, given where we are today, it’s a great time to do it, so let’s just do it.”
He explained that Apple no longer sees a need for the “Plus” distinction now that Apple TV’s subscription identity is firmly established.
Dropping the suffix brings the name in line with how consumers already refer to it as simply Apple TV.
Top comment by JR
That is incredibly optimistic of him. From a branding perspective it makes sense, but it makes it confusing for how people talk about things. No one calls their "Apple TV 4K" by that name. I also think he's being disingenuous by trying to say the Apple TV app on non-Apple devices is the same as it is on Apple TV devices. On Android devices it is literally just Apple TV content (what used to be called Apple TV+ content). Confusingly, on Apple TV devices, they decided to kill the dedicated Movie and TV apps and they cram that, along with watched content across many other apps, all in an app called "Apple TV"
So, sure, you can watch Apple TV content in the Apple TV app on your Apple TV, but you can also watch a lot of non-Apple TV content in the Apple TV all on your Apple TV. I do wonder if the hardware is going to get a bigger rename (other than adding "Pro" or something else at the end), but I'm probably being too optimistic now.
Personally, I’m already missing being able to say TV+ in conversation, but I get it.
When asked whether the simpler name might cause confusion with Apple’s hardware, Cue said he does not think that will be an issue.
“Our hardware is called Apple TV 4K for your TV. I think that’s fine, and the app is called Apple TV. It’s been called Apple TV on our third-party products as well, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem at all.”
In a bit of symmetry, the podcast appearance also flips the script on a recent Apple TV connection. Earlier this year, Belloni made a cameo as himself in The Studio on Apple TV. Now, the head of Apple’s TV business is the one appearing on The Town.
This comes up near the end of the podcast episode. Listen in full here.
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