14 DAY TRIAL // Two stories coming from different sources today focus on Apple's strategy for the next year. According to these reports, the Cupertino giant is cutting down 200 jobs at Beats before the acquisition closing date. At the same time, the Tech Giant is pushing the new Apple TV for next year, due to issues related to big cable companies.
Rumors about Apple's strategy can only be taken with a grain of salt. There are no official sources for these, so make sure to put them in the "maybe" category.
The first story comes from The Information. According to their sources, the long-awaited refresh for an Apple TV will be postponed for up to a year. The decision came from Apple bigwigs and went down the chain to the Apple TV team, the engineers who are working on different aspects of this future device. The Information is talking about Apple TV as on-demand television. The engineers are now working on longer timelines and it is safe to assume that the future device will not show up on the Apple Store shelves until later on in 2015.
The issue is not Apple or their capabilities for R&D, but the way the cable companies are "dragging their heels." Also, the Comcast - Time Warner Cable merger is another reason the TV service has not launched yet.
The Information cites sources inside the cable TV industry. They believe Apple has too many things on their plate, and as expected, they are denying their slow pace. Not only that, but the company needs permissions and copyright agreements with a lot of rights holders in order to offer streaming TV over their set-top boxes or some future devices related to this industry.
On the other hand, Apple is regularly adding new channels to their Apple TV lineup. The latest addition came from Fox Now and CNBC. They do offer a lot of content of all sorts, but it all comes with a password-protected feed that can be unlocked only by being a cable subscriber.
Apple also added iTunes Extra to their HD Movies in iTunes. They offer great additional content to the users who pay the price for an HD flick, including behind the scenes, director's commentary, picture galleries, and extra footage.
In another report, coming from the New York Post, Apple is going to cut 200 jobs from Beats after the acquisition at the end of this week. Those workers represent about 40 percent of the global workforce, but they are mostly administrative employees coming from the HR, Finance, and other departments that overlap the ones Apple already has in place.