The executive who oversees Apple's entertainment division traveled to the south of France this week to accept an award and, in the process, to deliver a message that might have surprised some of his hosts: the company known for inventing things would prefer to talk about stories.
Eddy Cue, the senior vice president for services and health at Apple, was named Entertainment Person of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, an honor that placed him on stage with the producer Jerry Bruckheimer for a conversation that touched on cameras, racing cars and the late Steve Jobs.
Mr. Cue's thesis, delivered to an audience that spends much of its professional life chasing the next technological advantage, was that none of it matters without narrative. He credited Mr. Jobs, who in addition to founding Apple also ran Pixar, with instilling that principle. Every great film, Mr. Cue said, begins and ends with the story it is telling.
(This is, of course, the sort of thing executives say at festivals. Whether it survives contact with quarterly earnings calls is another matter.)
The conversation did include some technology. Mr. Cue described miniaturized cameras that Apple developed for "F1," the recent theatrical and streaming film produced by Mr. Bruckheimer, which allowed Hollywood-quality footage to be captured from inside Formula One cars without adding weight. Those cameras, he noted, will appear in future iPhones. The company also used haptic feedback in its advertising for the film, allowing consumers to feel the racing action through their devices.
Apple TV Plus, which is now seven years old, continues to expand its library. Mr. Cue said the service's next major film will follow journalists investigating government files on unidentified flying objects — an approach he compared to "All the President's Men," though with more extraterrestrial subject matter.
Whether audiences will find that story as compelling as Watergate remains, for now, a matter of speculation.
Original story published in MediaPost: "Apple's Cue To Cannes: It's The Story, Stupid"