Tech giant Apple is breaking into TV content and has already released the first trailer of its upcoming reality TV series, “Planet of the Apps”, which is like a mix of “Shark Tank” and “The Voice”.
The show will have developers and entrepreneurs pitch their ideas for apps, choose a celebrity mentor, and eventually win USD10 million in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners as well as premium placement on the front page of Apple’s App Store.
The four celebrity judges for the show include actress and Honest Company co-founder Jessica Alba, Black Eyed Peas frontman and entrepreneur will.i.am, actress and founder of lifestyle brand Goop Gwyneth Paltrow, and VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk.
Instead of an elevator pitch, those competing on the show make an “escalator pitch”, as their pitch will literally takes place on a moving escalator, and they have only 60 seconds to sell their ideas!
If their pitch is selected, the developer will partner with one of the judges who will act as an adviser on the project.
Based on the trailer, tech companies like Yelp and Uber are also going to help the teams with some guidance.
Though the general idea of the show seems great, Apple fans and employees don’t seem to be impressed by the trailer, Business Insider reports.
It’s like a super cringe worthy version of Shark Tank. And why do all the “devs” look like they are 20?https://t.co/QI70X8hVZ0— Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) February 14, 2017
Got an email from Apple asking me to apply for this. So glad I passed. https://t.co/pOU0QTMMvB— Sam Soffes (@soffes) February 14, 2017
Apple should be producing amazing content like Netflix Originals does. Not this garbage. I am disappointed.— Dan Counsell (@dancounsell) February 14, 2017
“Planet of the Apps” looks insulting to the profession. Maybe it’s time to find a platform vendor who treats their devs with more respect?— 🌿 Tony Arnold (@tonyarnold) February 14, 2017
I’m sure Planet of the Apps will be a great show for all of those people who bug developers with their awful ideas. https://t.co/PORl3y4t1Y— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) February 14, 2017
apple's developer community — and even its own employees — are shitting all over its first reality show https://t.co/dlAxWmBMRN— Alternative Dave (@redletterdave) February 14, 2017
Releasing Planet of the Apps in 2017 is like doing Island of the Desktop Software in 2010— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 15, 2017
Imagine the thousand No's that lead to Planet of the Apps.— Ben Sandofsky (@sandofsky) February 14, 2017
“Planet of the Apps” will air exclusively on Apple Music sometime this year.
In other news, Apple will also create “Carpool Karaoke: The Series”, a spin-off of the popular segment of the same name from “The Late Late Show with James Corden”, set to premiere in April.