A top Apple exec explains you shouldn't bet that it'll buy Netflix or Disney
- In 2018, Apple expects to greatly expand the original TV shows and movies it's producing.
- On stage at SXSW, Apple Senior VP of Internet Software and Services was asked if those investments meant that it would buy a major player like Netflix or Disney.
- Cue shrugged off the suggestion, saying that Apple would rather not invest in an established player, and rather build out its video content in-house as much as possible.
On Monday, just before Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue took the stage at the South by Southwest festival, the Cupertino company announced the acquisition of Texture - a magazine-reading app that could bolster its own Apple News app with content from multiple publications.
That purchase prompted CNN's Dylan Byers to ask Cue, during his on-stage interview, if the acquisition of Texture meant that the company were willing to make an even bigger media deal - like buying Netflix or even Disney - to help build out its growing slate of original movie and TV content.
The Senior VP of Internet Software and Services shrugged off the question: Cue said that Disney and Netflix were "good partners" but that if you look at the "general history of Apple, we never make huge acquisitions." To explain that he pulled out a quote from hockey great Wayne Gretzky, "skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is."
In other words, Cue said Apple is focused on the next big thing, rather than the thing that is big now. So, rather than throwing enormous resources into snapping up an established player, Cue is hinting that Apple would rather buy something small and build the rest in-house.
Still, Apple is reportedly ready to spend as much as $1 billion in 2018 to develop its own movies and TV shows, The Wall Street Journal reported. Planned titles include Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories," and a show based on the life of star basketball player Kevin Durant. Those shows would be available to Apple Music subscribers, who pay $9.99 a month for unlimited access to a music streaming catalogue.