Apple's first reality TV show is all about apps

It appears like Apple is finally moving into creating original video content. On Monday, February 13, Apple unveiled its first television-style video series on Apple music — an upcoming reality TV show called ‘Planet of the Apps’ wherein app developers will essentially go through a pitching process to receive a monetary reward ($10 million) in funding.

The final decision will be made by the four-panel judge that includes singer-songwriter Will I Am, Hollywood actresses Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow and CEO of Vayner Media Gary Vaynerchuk.

The developers will first go through an elevator pitch, wherein they will be provided 60 seconds on a slow-moving escalator to present their ideas. Once they reach the end, the four judges will either swipe right or left to indicate whether they like the idea. Once the idea receives a go-ahead, the developers get to choose any one of the four judges that will guide them in building the pitch into an actual business.

Throughout the process, the selected app developers will also be receiving important pointers from existing start-ups in the space such as Yelp, Musical.ly and Uber.

The concept is similar to The Voice TV show, wherein the series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artist’s performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach.

The final step will require the app developer to present their formed idea to an actual venture capital firm such as Lightspeed Venture Partners. Those who get through, will receive the price of $10 million and a “featured placement” on the App store.

The ‘Planet of the Apps’ reality TV show will only be exclusive to Apple Music, said Apple executive Eddy Cue. The show will be available in spring this year.

Other original videos created by Apple include scripted dramas that are planned over a span of the next few months. “There are a bunch of projects. We’re in it. This is what Apple Music is going to be,” said Jimmy Iovine, head of Apple Music.

Apple is a dominating smartphone company with about $246 billion in cash and marketable securities. The company doesn’t intend on challenging streaming-video channels like Netflix and Amazon. However, they do plan on using original video content to help distinguish Apple Music that currently has about 20 million subscribers.