The first episode of Apple’s ‘Planet of the Apps’ will debut to everyone tonight

Update: You can watch the first episode here, for free for a limited time.

Apple’s first foray into original content will debut later tonight, according to a report from Reuters. “Planet of the Apps” has long been teased by Apple, but the first episode will finally be made available for streaming tonight at 9PM PT/midnight ET.

The first episode will be free for anyone to stream, but subsequent releases will be limited to Apple Music subscribers. Apple will release new episodes on a weekly basis, hitting Apple Music every Tuesday. The public debut follows a screening that will take place at WWDC tonight at 6:30 PT, so developers will get a brief jump on the rest of us.

In an interview with Reuters, Apple’s Eddy Cue explained that Planet of the Apps centers around taking an idea and turning it into something real:

“The question when you have ideas is how to take those to fruition,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in an interview. “Sometimes you may not know how, you might be afraid of what’s involved. This really shows how that’s possible.”

The first two episodes of Planet of the Apps will show developers presenting applications for online shopping, campus safety and a school backpack and facing struggles such as increased competition and pressure from investors.

“Planet of the Apps” came from musician will.i.am, who with producer Ben Silverman had shopped the series to traditional TV players before approaching Apple. Will.i.am appears as a judge alongside entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba, who have started businesses.

In the first two episodes, developers present apps for online shopping, campus safety and a school backpack. One team tries to adapt after Google announces a feature similar to its own concept. Another developer feels overwhelmed by will.i.am’s rapid-fire list of ideas.

Planet of the Apps will be marketed heavily, according to Cue. The show will be advertised on the Apple.com homepage, in iTunes, and various other places. “All of our customers are going to be exposed to this in one way or another,” Cue said. A Twitter account with the “Planet of the Apps” handle has also gone live this evening, but it’s not clear if it’s the real deal or not.

Are you going to watch Apple’s Planet of the Apps show this evening? Let us know down in the comments.