Apple’s reality TV show ‘Planet of the Apps’ keeps getting weirder. Every time Apple and Propagate release new information about the show, it gets harder to understand what they’re actually trying to build. This time, Variety got a statement saying that Jessica Alba is joining the cast of the show as a mentor and adviser.
In case you missed the previous episodes, Planet of the Apps is an original reality TV show that is going to air exclusively on Apple Music, or the Apple TV, or maybe some other Apple service. The TV show should be about the app economy, featuring app developers from the original idea to the App Store submission and beyond.
The teams will receive advice from mentors, funding from “top-tier VCs”, such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, and App Store promotion. Despite the unfortunate show name, it could be a fun show.
And yet, it gets a lot weirder when we talk about the eclectic cast of mentors behind the show. Gwyneth Paltrow, Will.i.am, Gary Vaynerchuk and Jessica Alba will all help the teams. Sure they’re all talented and famous. In Jessica Alba’s case, she’s even behind a huge e-commerce company. Becoming a big star like her is no small feat either.
But I don’t think any of these hosts are qualified to talk about design, engineering or even growth strategy when it comes to releasing a new app on the App Store. They’re no Whitney Wolfe, Evan Spiegel, Anne Wojcicki, Kevin Systrom, Julia Hartz, Dennis Crowley, Emily Weiss or Pavel Durov.
They’re going to shoot the show in Los Angeles starting on October 21. Applications are now open and you need to have a beta version of your app before then. 100 candidates will participate in this first season. Oh, and Product Hunt will help and co-host meetups in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and New York.
I find this teasing campaign pretty exciting already given that I have literally no idea who they’re going to announce next.
