by Dan Moren
Report: Apple’s negotiating style hampering TV efforts
As long as we’re talking reports about Apple’s behind the scenes activity, Shalini Ramachandran and Daisuke Wakabayashi at the Wall Street Journal (paywall) have an extensive piece about Apple’s continuing efforts to create a TV service of some variety, and the challenges the company’s faced from its…occasionally unorthodox negotiating strategy:
Apple’s point man for TV is Mr. Cue, 51 years old, the company’s senior vice president of internet software and services. He grew close to Mr. Jobs after starting as an intern in 1989. Mr. Cue favors bright shirts and fast cars, is on the board of directors at auto maker Ferrari NV and often spotted courtside at home games of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Mr. Cue is also known for a hard-nosed negotiating style. One cable-industry executive sums up Mr. Cue’s strategy as saying: “We’re Apple.”
Cue’s style seems to have paid off for them in the past, but I wonder if it’s up to the task of dealing with Hollywood. Seems like Apple hasn’t gotten a lot of traction, and its plans keep changing–now it seems to be delving into original content.