Mike Wuerthele
Apple and Oprah Winfrey are launching a combined effort in the Apple Books store to supplement Winfrey's Apple TV+ series, and is starting it with "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Winfrey's first book selection is "The Water Dancer" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The title is available for pre-order on Apple Books in both ebook and audiobook formats, and debuts on Tuesday. Coates will be interviewed for the first installment of Winfrey's Apple TV+ series, "Oprah's Book Club" which debuts alongside the launch of the service. Winfrey's conversation with Coates about "The Water Dancer" will be filmed in front of a live audience at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C. at some point in October.
"I am who I am today because of the experience of learning to read at an early age. Reading opened up a whole world for me beyond the red dirt road and my grandmother's porch in Mississippi," said Winfrey. "I want to do that for everybody. And the opportunity to do this with Apple, to speak to people all over the world about the pleasures, the excitement, the tension, the drama that a good book can bring you I don't know what's better than that."
For every Oprah's Book Club selection sold on Apple Books, Apple will make a contribution to the American Library Association to support local libraries. Funds will be used for programs that give access to everyone and create lifelong readers at an early age.
"Few people in the world can bring us together like Oprah, whose compassion and grace celebrating the power of books are unmatched," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "It's our honor to provide a new platform for Oprah's Book Club and support the American Library Association in opening hearts and minds to the joy of reading."
News of Winfrey's deal with Apple broke in June of 2018. Winfrey was on stage with Cook during the March 25 Apple TV+ debut where she teased the launch of the book club.
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6 Comments
The single best thing my parents gave me was teaching me to read even before I entered school. And that was an age when I could start kindergarten at age 4. My father was a postal clerk - opting for security coming out of the Great Depression - my mother a stay-at-home mom like most in the 1930s. But they scrimped and saved to buy a set of Childcraft books and set about teaching me - and then my younger sister when she reached 4 - to read and enjoy reading.
The whole world from Steinbeck to Buck, Simonov to Pyle, opened before my eyes.
There’s an exclusive look in Apple News.
https://apple.news/AFZ2je2nGTs6C_dzUe8gbzA
"The Water Dancer" will be filmed in front of a live audience at Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C. at some point in October."
Genius.
"For every Oprah's Book Club selection sold on Apple Books, Apple will make a contribution to the American Library Association to support local libraries."
Genius.
I'm guessing Planet of the Apps was a testing ground for innovative show+extras content. The best part of Planet of the Apps was that you could go into the App store and the banner spotlighted the freshly aired Apps. The show sucked but this innovation was the best part and it was fun to test the apps that were just on the show.
Other possible examples could be:
Apple TV+ documents the development of a game. After the documentary series ends, the game is released on Apple Arcade for people to try out with appreciation.
Apple releases a show based on a book. The book is available to read on Apple Books, the show is on Apple TV+ and a game based on the show is released on Apple Arcade.
When people ask "why" Apple needs to do this or that, THIS is exactly why. So they can control the whole stack and deliver experiences impossible otherwise or anywhere else.
I had an online argument with Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates on a movie web site years ago. He was a racist blowhard then and he’s still a racist today.