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Apple's (AAPL) First TV Series Premieres at WWDC on Day 2

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Apple Inc’s (AAPL - Free Report) first reality TV series “Planet of the Apps” premiered on the second day of WWDC. Subsequently, the company has made the first episode available for free on both Apple Music and iTunes.

Similar to popular shows like Shark Tank, Planet of the Apps is a 10-episode unscripted reality series about apps and the apps developers. It will have developers presenting their app ideas to a panel of judges, headed by entrepreneurs like Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Will.I.am and Gary Vaynerchuk. Developers who can sell their idea to the judges stand to get $10 million in funds, sponsored by Lightspeed Venture Partners, per media reports.

The next nine episodes will be available only to Apple Music subscribers. The company is planning to go for an intensive promotion of the show. iTunes chief Eddy Cue was quoted saying “All of our customers are going to be exposed to this in one way or another."

The show has been co-produced by Hollywood veteran Ben Silverman of “The Office” fame. Silverman was quoted by media reports saying “This show (Planet of the Apps) will echo and reflect a cultural transformation in our society led by technology companies like Apple.”

In July last year, it was reported that Apple will launch a TV show named Planet of the Apps. Shooting of the show began toward the end of 2016 and was wrapped up by February this year, reports MacRumors.

Other series in the pipeline include documentaries on Sean Combs and Clive Davis as well as a series based on a segment of the James Corden’s Late Late Show called Carpool Karaoke. Carpool Karaoke: The Series will be available from Aug 8 (every Tuesday) to Apple Music subscribers and will feature a number of celebrities playing their favorite songs while on a road trip. Celebrities like Will Smith, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Shakira, Trevor Noah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and many more are likely to appear on the show. All these efforts are aimed at boosting the Apple Music's subcriber base. In a span of two years, the service has become quite popular with 27 million paid subscribers.  

Zacks Rank & Stock Price Movement

At present, Apple carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the last one year, shares of Apple have registered growth of 56.02% compared with the Zacks categorized Computer Mini industry’s gain of 54.32%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader tech space include TiVo Corp , MercadoLibre (MELI - Free Report) and Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings (OLLI - Free Report) . While TiVo and MercadoLibre sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Ollie's Bargain Outlet carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the trailing four quarters, TiVo, MercadoLibreand Ollie's Bargain delivered average positive earnings surprises of 67.56%, 26.74% and 14.56%, respectively.

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