Interview with Eddy Cue, focusing on Apple TV+

British GQ, in the intro to an interview with Eddy Cue:

Just as Ive was the driving force behind Apple’s hardware, Cue – whose official job title is senior vice president of internet software and services – is now the driving force behind all the services from Apple Music and Maps to the new Apple credit card and Apple TV+, its new Netflix-rival streaming service set to launch this autumn in more than 100 countries.

Cue, on the rumor that Tim Cook posted notes on scripts, on the order of “Don’t be so mean”:

“I saw the comments that myself and Tim were writing notes on the scripts and whatever,” says Cue. “There’s never been one note passed from us on scripts, that I can assure you. We leave the folks [alone] who know they’re doing.”

So Cook didn’t give that particular note?

“I can assure you that was 100 per cent false. He didn’t say, ‘Don’t be so mean.’ He didn’t say anything about a script.”

And:

What would be an example of a show that’s not family friendly?

“The Reese Witherspoon-Jennifer Aniston show [The Morning Show is a workplace drama set behind the scenes of breakfast TV]. It’s a show about women in the workplace and some of the issues that happen to them are definitely not appropriate for you to watch with an eight-year-old.”

And:

Cue says he didn’t realise it at the time – “I was young” – but that one of the greatest things to happen to Apple was Jobs getting fired in 1985 by then-CEO John Sculley.

“Because when he came back, one of the things that he wanted to do is create a company that would outlast him and could live for hundreds of years.”

He was really thinking in terms of centuries?

“He absolutely was. And he put people in place and created a culture that he thought would do that. But obviously he was taken way too early. I figured I’d be walking out of Apple the same day he was walking out of Apple.”

There’s a lot more to the interview. Lots of interesting tidbits.