Apple TV+ is now just Apple TV, and Apple’s senior vice president of services says the change was just the right time.
Eddie Cue, a guest on Matt Belloni’s The Town podcast, talked about why the company decided to remove the “Plus” from Apple TV Plus and why Apple doesn’t believe it would cause confusion with other products with the same name.
Cue said the decision was an Apple-wide decision.
“I just decided. We use it with other services like iCloud+ and News+, so we put a plus in there. But if there’s a free service and then there’s a paid version, we’ll do it. So we stayed consistent, but we all called it Apple TV and said, let’s just go with it because it’s the perfect time to do it given the current situation.”
He explained that now that Apple TV’s subscription identity is firmly established, Apple no longer sees the need for the “Plus” distinction.
By removing the suffix, it matches the name that consumers already call simply Apple TV.
Personally, I already forget that I can say TV+ in conversation, but I get it.
When asked if the simple name might cause confusion with Apple’s hardware, Cue said he didn’t think that would be a problem.
“Our hardware is called Apple TV 4K for TVs, and we think that’s fine. Our apps are also called Apple TV. Our third-party products are also called Apple TV, so we think that’s perfectly fine.”
In a bit of symmetry, the podcast appearance flips the script on recent Apple TV connections. Earlier this year, Belloni made a cameo appearance as himself on Apple TV’s The Studio. Now, the head of Apple’s TV business is appearing on The Town.
This comes near the end of the podcast episode. Listen to the full story here.
