First there was iTunes video, then Apple TV+, and now just Apple TV. Apple's rebranding of Apple TV+ means that it now has Apple TV, Apple TV, the Apple TV.
Alongside its announcement of when its hit "F1: The Movie" will stream on Apple TV+, Apple slipped out the news that it wouldn't be streaming on Apple TV+ at all. Instead, you can watch "F1" on Apple TV.
"Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity," says the press release — and that's it. One line, buried toward the end of the news about the film.
Just to be sure, we confirmed it with Apple. It's legit.
Although that vibrant new identity does appear to be on display, you've just got to know that it's there before you notice it. For as shown on the new "F1" poster and as displayed at the end of a trailer, the new identity is the old one minus the plus symbol.
There may be a point
Apple has a point if it's thinking that all of this plus stuff has gone a bit far. Disney+, Paramount+, ESPN+, Discovery+, the list does go on, and we have reached the point where plus is meaningless.
You can blame ESPN, though. It appears that its ESPN+ was streaming service with a plus in its name, and it did so on April 12, 2018.
It then took seven months before Disney+ was announced on November 8, 2018. That beat the announcement of Apple TV+ by four months — Tim Cook unveiled the service in March 2019.
Apple TV+ did then start streaming before Disney, launching a whole 12 days before it on November 1, 2019.
Then came the latecomers, cashing in on the + branding, such as Paramount+. That launched in March 2021, although it was chiefly a rebrand from the then so very passe name CBS All Access.
When you're hot, you're hot, and for a brief time it was impossible to launch a streaming service that wasn't named with a plus.
Fine. Only, Disney doesn't make a set top box called Disney. Nor does Paramount, or any one else.
Apple does.
Five years ago, we broke down the differences between Apple TV, Apple TV app, and Apple TV+. Now with this name change, that differentiation has further collapsed.
That may seem like melodrama because, hey, there are only three near-identical names and clearly the app is for iPhone, there's the Apple TV hardware, and Apple TV for watching great drama.
Okay, wait. Just like on TV, there's more.
There's also Apple TV Channels, Apple TV HD, and those Apple TV apps are for iPhone, iPad, Mac, smart TV, and Apple Vision Pro.
Tim Cook unveils the original Apple TV+ in 2019 — image credit: Apple
You've probably never watched Apple TV Channels. And if you have used the Apple TV app, it may have been only because your Apple TV 4K defaults to showing you that first.
Then although you are missing out if you don't watch Apple TV+ — sorry, Apple TV — there is a touch more confusion. Apple calls the app just TV.
The Apple Music argument
You could point out that there is not now, nor has there ever been, an Apple Music+. Although if you're looking at all of Apple's services, there is Apple News+ and there is iCloud+.
Or at least there is for now.
The argument with Apple Music, is that like Apple TV, it is a way to get content. It's not hardware, it's not an application in the sense that, say, Apple Mail is, it is instead a content-rich environment.
You can watch "CODA" on the Apple TV app on an Apple TV 4K, though it's only mostly owned by Apple TV — image credit: Apple
But while there is music made by Apple for Apple Music, the streaming service is overwhelmingly dominated by millions upon millions of tracks by independent artists and record labels.
Whereas with Apple TV, there are titles that don't fully belong to Apple — you have to really look, but "CODA" is still part-owned by other firms in certain global territories.
Apple TV+ as it was, was in every sense Apple's platform for showcasing superb television that it makes.
Now Apple TV will continue to be exactly that, unless you're talking about the expected update to Apple TV. The set top box.
At least the current latest model of that is officially called Apple TV 4K. But its vibrant identity consists of the same Apple TV logo as the new television branding, plus "4K" written in color.
If a new model does come out in 2025, it will have been eight years since the first Apple TV 4K. The term "4K" wasn't that big a selling point back in 2017, so it's a fair chance the new model will drop it.
In which case, you'll be able to go into an Apple Store to ask about the Apple TV, to inquire about the Apple TV app on it, and to question whether it's better to subscribe to Apple TV or get it in the Apple One Bundle.
