The two executives moved quickly to build Apple Worldwide Video from the ground up, expanding its staff to roughly 40 people and opening divisions for adult dramas, children’s shows and Latin American and European programming. In putting together its slate of 12 projects (and counting), Mr. Van Amburg and Mr. Erlicht made deals with big names including Reese Witherspoon (for three shows), Steven Spielberg, Damien Chazelle, M. Night Shyamalan, Jennifer Aniston, Octavia Spencer and Kristen Wiig.

“We’re all in,” Mr. Cue said in Austin. “We’re completely all in.”

What remains to be seen is whether the tech giant’s efforts will lead to success in an industry where, as the screenwriter William Goldman once observed, “Nobody knows anything.”

Apple was built on the careful work of engineers who created platforms and products that helped define tech culture. But there is a difference between making successful products and creating hit shows — a lesson learned the hard way by Microsoft and Yahoo, which not long ago had big plans for original programming, only to abandon them.

With the rise of streaming, the old Hollywood system is cracking. With plans to spend up to $8 billion on content in 2018, Netflix has committed to a strategy of offering something for everyone, and other companies have been tempted to try their luck in an increasingly crowded field. There were 487 scripted shows released last year, a number that will rise to more than 500 in 2018. To keep up with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have thrown money at new projects, while marquee cable players like HBO and FX are focused on holding their place in the market.

After a hotly contested bidding war, Apple opened its wallet to sign Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Aniston to star in a series about a morning TV show. It also struck a deal for a series with Mr. Chazelle, the director of “La La Land,” who will write and direct every episode of a new series, the details of which the ever-secretive Apple has not divulged.

In addition to those shows, the company has announced that it will reboot Mr. Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” and has signed Ronald D. Moore, the producer of “Battlestar Galactica” and “Outlander,” for a new space drama. Apple also has deals in place for an animated series from the creator of Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers”; a comedy starring Ms. Wiig; a drama starring Ms. Spencer; and a documentary series about lavish homes from Matt Tyrnauer, who made the fashion documentary “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”

Producers and entertainment executives who have met recently with Apple executives said the company has been leaning toward programming in keeping with its bright, optimistic brand identity. In other words, it seems possible that Apple will shy away from projects that are gratuitously dark or heavy on social issues. They added that the company was targeting somewhere between March 2019 and the summer of that year to roll out its slate of new programming.