Apple's enormous software and services business could soon see some help from original programming, if CEO Tim Cook's comments are any indication.
The notoriously secretive company on Tuesday, a brief look into the mind of the management there. When questioned, Cook expanded on Apple's plans in original content, noting that Apple TV is part of a growing emphasis on subscription revenue at the company.
Here's what Cook told analysts on a conference call:
"In terms of original content, we have put our toe in the water doing some original content for Apple Music, and that will be rolling out through the year. We are learning from that, and we'll go from there. The way that we participate in the changes that are going on in the media industry — that I fully expect to accelerate from the cable bundle beginning to break down — is:
1. We started the new Apple TV a year ago, we're pleased on how that platform has come along. We have more things planned for it, but it's come a long way in a year, and it gives us a clear platform to build off of.
2. Embedded in the 150 million paid subscriptions that I mentioned in my opening comments, there's a number of third-party services that are a part of that, where we participate economically in some of that by offering our platform selling and distributing.
3. With our toe in the water we are learning a lot about the original content business, and thinking about ways that we could play in that."
Apple has already dabbled with some content, including the late-night spinoff, "."
Apple's foray into more original content — first reported by earlier this month — would put Apple alongside telecom companies, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and Google, who are all trying to compete with traditional media companies for viewers.
For Apple, long known for its easy-to-use interfaces, it could mean that more people stay within its ecosystem, bolstering its ambitions to double its Services like the cloud, Apple Care, or even soon a favorite TV show, could keep people buying iPhones and switching to MacBooks, according to Daniel Ives, senior vice president of finance and corporate development at mobile software company Synchronoss Technologies.
"There is increasingly more value around the software ecosystem to help drive the next upgrade cycle," Ives told CNBC.