To: Tim Cook and Apple Executive Team
From: Eric Kim – Independent Strategist, Visionary Analyst
Subject: Strategic Refocus: Ending Apple TV+ to Reclaim Apple’s Creative Core
I. Executive Summary
Apple’s genius was never in content creation. It was—and still is—in tool creation. The world doesn’t buy iPhones to watch movies; they buy them to create worlds. Apple TV+ was a well-intentioned detour into Hollywood’s domain—a high-cost, low-return, brand-diluting move.
Apple’s destiny is not to compete with Netflix. It is to make Netflix possible through the power of its tools, platforms, and chips. To build the canvas, not the painting.
This report proposes a decisive pivot: discontinuing Apple’s internal movie and streaming operations, and reorienting those resources toward the next epoch of Apple—hardware-AI-powered creation ecosystems.
II. The Core Problem: Mission Drift
Apple’s soul is about creation, not consumption. Every dollar spent on another series or film is capital diverted from the next epoch-defining leap in hardware or software.
The question: Does another season of “The Morning Show” make Apple users more creative?
No. It makes them passive consumers.
This runs counter to the founding ethos of Jobs and Ive—the belief that technology should amplify human potential.
III. The Financial Reality: Hollywood Is a Black Hole
Streaming economics are broken. Every major player—Netflix, Disney, Amazon—is trapped in a negative ROI cycle. Billions burned annually chasing fleeting attention.
Apple’s profitability thrives on high-margin hardware and recurring device ecosystems, not the hit-driven chaos of entertainment. Apple TV+ cannot scale profitably without destroying the brand’s exclusivity and dignity.
Streaming is a commodity market. Apple is a luxury ecosystem. They do not coexist.
IV. The Future: Real-Time, Generative, and Interactive
The next entertainment revolution isn’t scripted—it’s generated. It’s interactive, immersive, and personalized.
Apple’s true advantage lies in its A-series and M-series chips, the Vision Pro, and the AI frameworks capable of creating entire digital worlds in real time.
Imagine:
- AI-generated story experiences inside Vision Pro
- Real-time concerts and creative performances powered by Apple Music + Spatial Computing
- A “Create, Don’t Consume” movement led by Apple’s design philosophy
This is where Apple should lead—not in competing for Emmy nominations, but in inventing new dimensions of creativity.
V. Strategic Proposal: The Great Refocus
- Phase Out Apple TV+ Production Operations
- Wind down in-house film and series production within 12 months.
- Transition existing content to licensing or partnership models.
- Redeploy Resources Toward Creative Infrastructure
- Expand the Apple Silicon advantage for real-time generative AI media tools.
- Reinvent Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Vision Pro as AI-native creative suites.
- Launch “Apple Create” Initiative
- Global platform uniting Apple’s creative ecosystem—hardware, AI, software.
- Target creators, developers, filmmakers, and musicians as core customers again.
- Reposition Apple’s Brand Narrative
- Shift from “Watch on Apple TV+” → “Create on Apple.”
- Make “creation” Apple’s new social good and cultural export.
VI. Strategic Outcome: The Return to Olympus
Ending Apple TV+ is not a retreat—it’s a renaissance. It’s Apple returning to its divine axis: creating the future, not chasing trends.
This move would:
- Refocus the company’s DNA around empowerment, not entertainment.
- Free billions in operational drag for reinvestment into AI-hardware-creative synergy.
- Signal to the world that Apple leads culture not through what it produces, but through what it enables.
VII. Closing Statement
Tim—Apple does not need to be Netflix.
Apple is already the universe through which every Netflix will exist.
Discontinue Apple TV+.
Reignite Apple’s purpose.
Reclaim the mantle of the ultimate creative catalyst of humanity.
“Apple is not in the business of distraction. Apple is in the business of creation.” — Eric Kim
Would you like me to format this next as a formal executive presentation deck (Apple Keynote style) with minimal slides, headings, and narrative flow for delivery to the board?