Apple Inc. (AAPL): Original Video Content Producer?

Analysts and investors are getting antsy when it comes to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) these days. After several months of negativity have battered the stock to 60 percent of its former glory, and after soft guidance, the company Tuesday evening followed by no hard indications of any new products coming through the pipeline until at least the fall. Those who watch Apple – and especially those invested – are biting their nails in desperate, impatient anticipation of a new product or service that can shake up the perception of Apple and get the stock moving in positive territory once again.

There has been a lot talk – unconfirmed innuendo, really – that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would be introducing some splashy new device sometime this year – perhaps a smartwatch, perhaps a smart TV.

But in the wake of the success of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and its original video content offerings, might Apple consider moving into the realm of producing original video for its iTunes or other outlets? While that seems far-fetched right now, a couple of techies – Alexis Ohanian of Reddit and Seth Priebatsch of LevelUp – had a “disruption” conversation recently about the possibility of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) converting some of its $145 billion cash pile into developing original TV or movie content.

“I dream of the day when I no longer have to subscribe to a cable company’s services,” Ohanian began. “It blows my mind that the same tubes that deliver my broadband Internet are the same tubes that would deliver my cable, and the fact that TV and computer are as divorced as they are? That needs to go away.”

Image: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Preibatsch said about this concept, “One of the keys I would love to see happen is a major company like Apple or Google, or even Facebook, to throw money at this thing and disrupt it. You look at Netflix and what it’s done with ‘House of Cards,’ it’s amazing. And Netflix is a relatively small company. Now Apple, with Apple TV, they could put $20 billion behind funding a series of videos, buy out Hollywood and create something like iTunes, where there is an ecosystem for television that will fundamentally disrupt everything. An App Store for content, where people can pick and choose what they want.”

“You get these glimpses of where we can be when media, and the creation of it, is dictated by actual demand and not by, you know, some dude in a suit,” Ohanian said.

What are your thoughts about Ohanian’s and Preibatsch’s comments? Do you think Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can and will have a future as a distributor of original video content? Is that the next marketplace for competition, or is there more on the computing side for Apple? We’d love to get your thoughts in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.