Apple announced on Thursday the launch of a new reality series for technology entrepreneurs who hope to move forward their careers with new apps they develop.
Aptly titled "Planet of the Apps," the show would be produced by actress Gwyneth Paltrow and musician will.i.am, while digital expert Gary Varynerchuk would serve as mentor and adviser to soon-to-be-discovered app developers, reported Entertainment Weekly. The show would air in 2017.
The Cupertino-based tech giant, Apple, and Propagate are behind the techy reality show. Vaynerchuk pointed out that while developing and rolling out a business based on an original idea could be exciting, at the same time, it could also be intimidating. The show would let experts use their experience to help app developers break through and come up with viable enterprises which would affect the lives of people.
The Verge noted the Apple-centric goal of the reality show even if on the surface “Planet of the App” uses a TV show format. The show would drive technology consumers to the App Store since it is “a marketing vehicle packaged as TV programming.”
The prize is $10 million venture capital funding, although it could be divided among multiple contestants. The tech website observed the producers of the show have yet to announce the type of app they are looking for, but believes it would either have mass appeal or be visually interesting.
Besides the capital funding, the winning app would be featured in the App Stores which has more than 2 million apps. Since the show is sponsored by Apple, apps are expected to be built for iOS, Mac OS, Apple TV or watchOS.