Apple was born a hardware company, but its future is going to be tethered to services. And if that is the case, for a company which has a proprietary software differentiated by hardware, it needs as many people to be using the iDevices , and that means the iPhone must have affordable versions, away from the fashionista models. That has been my position for years, and today Apple has circled:
“Apple unveiled a new, cheaper iPhone Wednesday that is capable of running the same apps and games that its more expensive models do. The iPhone 16e — which will be priced at $599 when it goes on sale later this month — also dispenses with the home button and fingerprint sensor for Apple’s FaceID scanner and modern design.”
Indeed, removing fingerprint sensors and FaceID scanners which I do not think many use is a good call, if that will help more people to afford the iPhone. The global digital opportunity cake is broken into operating systems, browsers and devices. Google’s Alphabet is represented in all three with Android, Chrome and Android devices; Alphabet is an enduring company. Microsoft is there with Windows and Edge/IE. Apple runs its own world of iOS, Safari and iDevices, and is there. These are the platforms of the modern digital universe. Facebook’s Meta is looking for its own world in smart eyeglasses, aspiring to become the operating system.
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The next battle will be the operating system or the apps store of the AI world. Leaving hardware behind as the main rainmaker will help Apple think deeper into that future especially now that Microsoft and Google with their respective quantum computing playbooks are poised to change the basis of competition:
‘Microsoft has unveiled its first quantum computing chip, calling it a breakthrough that could solve “industrial-scale problems” in years rather than decades. The LinkedIn parent says the chip, Majorana 1, is powered by the world’s first so-called topoconductor, which is described as a new class of material that helps advance quantum technology…Google in December announced its own quantum chip, Willow’.
Meanwhile, can you imagine that Google and Microsoft are the ones shaping the conversations around quantum computing, over Intel and IBM? The world rotates except the earth-tech is only in America.
*quotes from LinkedIn News
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Apple is yet to hit any right button on the AI mania, so it could start with relatively mass market devices, which will in turn attract many more people to run their AI apps on Apple devices. If the AI mania ends up crashing devices and draining batteries faster, a new race on AI-resilient mobile devices will ensue.
Those who already enjoy huge advantage are not willing to cede anything, rather they want to hold all they already have and still find ways to squeeze the remaining space for small players.
As for Google and Microsoft leading in quantum computing, it’s a shift from how value chains were initially structured. So expect hospitals to lead in medical equipments, as against core engineering firms. When you are in the arena and see everything that passes, with your direct interaction with end users and beneficiaries, you can decide to rewrite the traditional structure. The universities will also need to stand up and be counted.