Apple's LG Home Partnership • HBO Max/Paramount+ Super App

Apple's would-be 'HomePod Hub' device starts to make a lot more sense if it launches alongside a bunch of other technology products for the home – and the best way to do that, fast, is with a deep partnership with a current player. One which also, I should note, makes television sets...

Meanwhile, I suppose one upside of the Skydance Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery mega merger is that two streaming services can become one. But what might that look like, what what might they call it?

Read on for thoughts on...

LG By Apple

Well, we may be on the verge of seeing that mythical Apple Television set after all – only it may be made by LG. Here's Mark Gurman:

Apple Inc.’s upcoming push into smart home devices will include a doorbell, thermostat and other accessories developed through an unusual partnership with LG Electronics Inc.

The products will be part of an ecosystem of devices that work with Apple’s new smart home hub, as well as an upgraded HomePod mini and fresh TV set-top box, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new Apple devices are set to be introduced on Oct. 13.

The products developed with South Korea’s LG will also include a smart deadbolt lock, indoor security camera, outdoor security camera and floodlight camera, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the undertaking is private.

Fine, he doesn't mention a television set, but come on, that is so happening at some point. As Gurman points out, at one point when Apple was out of the computer monitor game, they recommended LG's wares. And now they're clearly about to recommend a whole bunch of LG wares with this new partnership.

On one hand, this isn't exactly a new strategy. Apple has long partnered with players like Belkin to produce products for their ecosystem that they didn't want to attach their own brand to for whatever reason – be it price, brand dilution (offering too many products/options), or not wanting to admit that perhaps an Apple device is best used with a compromised accessory.

To a degree, this is what Beats itself has morphed into: a place where Apple can produce and sell products and accessories under a sub-brand.

But the key to this particular partnership with LG is clearly around the home itself. In my post with questions and thoughts around Apple's would-be 'HomePod Hub' product set to be unveiled next week, I wrote the following:

And while Apple's own (also long rumored) security cameras would apparently come later, presumably Apple would play up third-party integrations that they've been building up for years with the Home app and HomeKit for iPhones and iPads. But the question there is whether such integration warrants buying a whole new device to manage, say, your garage door, versus just doing that on the iPhone or iPad you already own.

To try to sell people on this new device's utility, Apple is clearly going to want to show off some integrations and use cases on day one. And the best way to do that is through partnerships. Unlike with software, Apple can't and wouldn't want to create all the home devices here – at least not any time soon! So why not partner with a player already deeply immersed in the home? It's not going to be Android-wedded Samsung, so...

In recent weeks, LG has sought regulatory approval for the devices, including with the US Federal Communications Commission and UL Solutions, a product certification company. In many cases, the databases for both organizations include filings that reveal product names, specifications, features and drawings of the accessories.

That includes products labeled as the LG Video Doorbell Wired, LG Floodlight Cam, LG Outdoor Cam Plug-In, LG Indoor Cam Plug-In, LG Smart Deadbolt Lock, LG Smart Thermostat and LG Temperature Sensor. LG requested that photos and more precise details on the products remain confidential until early next year. The filings don’t mention Apple’s involvement.

Again, no TV set yet, but obviously that will come too – the family is not about to gather around a 6-inch square screen to watch The Odyssey (as Christopher Nolan intended). The biggest issue/question there may be if Apple can get LG to knock off that creepy home spying shit.

This all also feels like a Ternus move: leverage Apple's in-house design and engineering prowess to bolster an ecosystem around Apple's products. Oh yes, and one more thing: sell and promote all of this stuff through Apple's retail channels, including, of course, Apple Stores.

The HBO Max/Paramount+ Unification

Good news everyone, your seven streaming services are going to become six. Eventually. Probably. Here's Tony Maglio:

On Tuesday, Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison told reporters that “long term,” he plans to “bring [HBO Max] and [Paramount+] together” as one streaming service.

“It’ll take a period of time to do that,” Ellison said, referring to merging the two tech stacks. “So I think in the immediate you will see them operated separately.”

“Given the way AI technology and other things have progressed, we think we can actually accelerate how quickly we accomplish that goal,” he continued, adding that “bundling” the services will be available “in the relatively short term.”

While this was always assumed to be the plan – and actually, Ellison has said as much in the past – last week, Casey Bloys, the executive who will now oversee both services, left the door open that the two services could remain separate but integrated where it makes sense – just like what Disney has done with their multiple services. Of course, that's also been sort of a confusing mess of options for consumers, to the point where it's pretty clear that Disney is slowly but surely bringing all the content into Disney+ itself. You can still use the Hulu or ESPN apps (for now), but most people will end up using Disney+ for all that content.

HBO Max and Paramount+ are a bit different as both have been their own marquee streaming hubs in the past. (To be fair, Hulu was at one point too, but that was long ago.) And it's going to be beyond confusing if say, you're looking for a sporting event that's in Paramount+'s sports area but not HBO Max's sports area, even though both are run by the same company now. So yeah, they'll obviously unify that stuff.

And if Skydance truly wants the scale to rival Netflix (let alone YouTube), one massive streaming service is obviously going to be key, not four or five smaller ones.

At the same time, the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ in the last merger was a fiasco. Granted, this was largely WBD's own fault with a rebranding fumble for the ages (continuing a storied tradition in HBO's streaming age). So yes, some people will want to see HBO remain separate from all that Paramount+ stuff. But again, we're far beyond that now, HBO Max is full of non-HBO stuff and roping in the Paramount stuff can't hurt more than bringing in, say, Dr. Pimple Popper or whatever with Discovery. The key is that HBO, the studio, remains its own thing, not mushed together with Paramount and everything else. Which is clearly what Bloys actually wants and is getting – hence his elevation over Cindy Holland, who led the Paramount+ service but is now leaving.

So we'll get a bundle of the two to start and eventually you can expect Paramount+ content to merge into HBO Max. The bigger question is what they'll call the eventually combined service. Will it simply remain HBO Max? Perhaps. Again, Skydance was already shown what not to do here thanks to both AT&T and WBD. But I'd still make the case for a great name that Skydance actually controls thanks to their previous Paramount deal: Showtime.

I mean, is there a better natural name for a content streaming service? It could house HBO content, Max content, Discovery content, Paramount content, CBS content, CNN, etc. A "super app" of sorts! The downside, of course, is that it doesn't have 'HBO' in the name, so people might be confused where to find that content. Strike that, people will be confused, at least to start. So the question is if having a streamlined, unified brand is worth it to David Ellison and co versus just keeping the status quo.

Again, my guess would be that they go with the latter and keep 'HBO Max'. But given that they bought into my notion both to bulk up by buying Warner Bros Discovery (immediately after buying Paramount) and now have used my overall company branding idea to keep it simply as 'Skydance' with the studios retaining their names underneath the parent, I'm holding out hope someone over there is reading this and liking my style.

Now for the actual hard part: combining the companies and figuring out how to scale without destroying the brands and diluting the quality, while at the same time paying the very big bills coming due...