Was Apple Planning The Streaming Service Since Steve Jobs Was At The Helm?

The rumors of Apple Inc. AAPL launching a streaming service of its own are turning out to be true. Several leading publications reported on Tuesday that Apple is ‘planning' to launch its own streaming service in collaboration with U.S. broadcasters like CBS, FOX and ABC.

Walter Isaacson, Aspen Institute CEO and author of Steve Jobs' authorized biography, was on CNBC Tuesday to discuss how even while Steve Jobs was the helm, Apple was never really interested in the physical TV, but building an all-in-one content delivery product and the difficulties in getting content for streaming services.

Integrated Product

"Steve Jobs never talked to me about physical TV set, he was really interested as Apple has always been in the integrated product that makes it really easy to get the content through really good content management, good software, good piece of hardware," Issacson said.

Tough To Get Television Content

He added, "The tough thing about TV is getting the content. When Steve Jobs was alive he could push, cajole, charm, and sometimes […] beat the music companies to put their songs as single songs on the iTunes Store. It's been a much harder process getting the television content providers and others to play along, especially since the cable providers want to keep controlling that pipeline."

TV's Golden Age

Issacson was asked what he thinks about the future of TV content which so far has felt like a golden age. He replied, "why is TV entering the golden age is because there are new models, whether it's Amazon or Netflix, you start getting on HBO and HBO Go and HBO ON Demand, you start getting a real rush for content and I think that if Apple does that it's just not going to be streaming video, they are just going to have a library of great content."