It wasn't that long ago we heard reports that Dr. Dre would be starring in Apple's first original series, a semi-autobiographical "dark drama" supposedly titled Vital Signs. Today, the New York Times is reporting that a way (wayyyy) different figure from hip hop, Will.i.am, will actually be starring in the company's first foray into producing original content.
The Will.i.am series will be a reality show that documents the way apps are produced and sold in the app store, Apple senior vice president Eddie Cue told the newspaper. He also said that despite longstanding rumors that Apple wants to jump into the original content game and compete with Netflix (the company was supposedly interviewing TV execs to spearhead the effort late last year) the new series doesn't mean the tech giant is going all-in on producing content, it's just testing the water.
"This doesn't mean that we are going into a huge amount of movie production or TV production or anything like that," Mr. Cue said. He added that the company would continue to explore exclusive projects similar to the series about apps or its push into music programming.
The company has dabbled in original content already, partnering with Vice for a documentary about local music that will stream through Apple Music recently. The app series feels like a safe bet considering its a topic the company obviously knows.
"One of the things with the app store that was always great about it was the great ideas that people had to build things and create things," Cue said.
We're still waiting to finally hear something about the next Apple TV, which last we heard was going to be a giant leap forward from the old one.
