CNBC’s ‘Planet Of The Apps’ Premieres On January 7th

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A new one hour special will debut on CNBC on January 7, 2010 10pm Pacific time, 1am Eastern time (won’t everyone be asleep out there?) With the cutesy name of “Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!”, the TV network CNBC (which we all know stands for Consumer News and Business Channel) seems to be cheerfully trumpeting their own demise. Media as we know it will cease to be once the app wave washes over traditional media and prepares us for a clean slate of user-driven media, tailored to iPhones and iPod Touches, other smartphones and dare I say it, iSlates. The media universe will get much much bigger and TV is going to have to start swimming in the app stream to avoid sinking.

“Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!” is produced by Kurtis Productions, yes the same Kurtis as in Bill Kurtis, the venerable journalist and long-time host of A&E’s Investigative Reports and American Justice. More recently Kurtis has been featured in a series of funny AT&T (do those two words go together?) ads going after new, presumably older, subscribers. Hosted by business reporter Scott Wapner (I wonder if he is related to Judge Wapner?) they obviously take the saying “know thy enemy ” to heart. According to CNBC, “In this hour we’ll look at how apps have changed our lives, meet some of the creators behind them, and figure out just how big a business they really are.” They are probably alot bigger than any TV network cares to admit, and are poised to take over.

Here are the Program Highlights from the CNBC website:

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

What is Your Favorite App?
There’s an app for just about everything…turn your phone into a compass, find a taxi or receive an instant radar weather report anytime…anywhere. Research reveals 50% of smartphone users view apps as essential tools for helping them stay organized.

Apple & Apps

The original Apple iPhone featured just 11 apps. But customers quickly wanted more. Today the company features more than 100-thousand apps and developers are submitting thousands of new ideas each month.

Actor Greg Grunberg’s App

Even though he found success on NBC’s popular show “Heroes,” Greg Grunberg is still working a second job. Grunberg creates a mobile coupon app called Yowza!! that gives shoppers a new way to get discounts.

The Competition

Apple initially cornered the app market, but independent developers quickly began creating new products. Making money on an app, let alone turning a quick profit, isn’t that easy.

So grab your non-microwaved popcorn kids, and pull up a chair to watch the boobtube on January 7 when the revolution will be televised! (with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron)