The premise of Apple’s upcoming TV show, “Planet of the Apps,” has been known for awhile now: app makers will pitch their iOS app ideas for a $ 10 million pot of venture capital funding, some mentorship, and the chance to have their apps seen by millions of Apple TV users.
Turns out there’s an actual elevator pitch involved — although it’s not an elevator, it’s an escalator.
Apple executive Eddy Cue and Propagate Content’s Ben Silverman, who is co-producing the show with Apple, revealed at Recode’s Code Media conference earlier today that the show will include an escalator ride, during which the app developers have to pitch their apps. At the end of the escalator ride, a panel of expert judges — which include Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Will.i.am — will swipe right or left to indicate whether they’re interested in the app.
Yup: it’s Shark Tank meets The Bachelor meets….Tinder?
It’s a gimmick, for sure, although not entirely antithetical to reality TV programming. Assuming the app is successful after the pitch and mentorship, viewers can download the app after the show to “interact” with what they’ve just seen. Cue said that the show would become available sometime this spring, and that it would be entirely exclusive to Apple Music, Apple’s own music streaming app. He also said Music is the company’s “fastest-growing subscription service in 15 months,” with more than 20 million subscribers.
“It will premiere and be an exclusive on Apple Music,” Cue said. There are also no plans to run ads on the show, although viewers can expect to maybe see some Apple ads in there. After all, the show is basically a commercial for the App Store.
