CGTN Europe discussed the upcoming Apple launch with Horace Dediu, Founder and author of Asymco and an independent analyst and advisor on mobile platform strategy.
00:00Well, let's stay with this story and talk more Apple and talk to mobile analyst Horace Dedue.
00:06Horace, welcome. Apple's been slower than some of its rivals, rolling out visible artificial intelligence features.
00:14Do you see today's announcement as Apple trying to catch up, or is it still searching for the next big thing?
00:21Well, I think it's probably still in a development mode at this time, as you could say, maybe catching up.
00:32It doesn't yet have what many consider to be equivalent performance to some of the best AI systems out there, for example, in Google's Pixar.
00:44The problem is, though, that the business model for AI hasn't really proven itself either.
00:52And so Apple is not necessarily falling behind in terms of revenue on this.
00:58The consumers are not quite yet clamoring for the features.
01:03Recent surveys show maybe a single-digit percentage of customers are interested in this technology at this time.
01:11Part of it is because they don't know quite what it can do.
01:14Horace, while you're speaking, we're showing some truly ancient pictures of Apple.
01:18I should explain, if you're sitting at home watching, shouting at your television, there are no new pictures yet.
01:24They're going to be rolled out in about 30 minutes or so.
01:27Apple keeping a very tight hold of their release.
01:31Horace, let me ask you about the Vision Pro.
01:33A rather cautious rollout and adoption seems so far rather limited.
01:39How important is the headset space for Apple's future?
01:43And do you think it's ever going to become a mass market product?
01:48Well, I think Apple does consider it super important.
01:52And the reason being that it's the next leap in user interfaces.
01:56Let's not forget that the history of Apple has been mostly punctuated by the release of new interface methods from the mouse for the original Macintosh to the scroll wheel for the iPod and finally to the touchscreen or multi-touch for the iPhone.
02:13Each of these allowed it to enter into a new phase, develop new platforms and new entire ecosystems which led to its current value.
02:22The problem is going forward, the limitations of touch in our ability to consume screen-based content is such that it has to be wearable.
02:36Whatever's coming next is going to be either more or less worn or touching us.
02:44And this is something that Apple wants to figure out, wants to crack that nut.
02:50And they're not alone.
02:51And a lot of other companies are clamoring for this particular real estate, if you will, on the human body.
02:57And the answer to the question of its sort of time to market and success there will depend a lot on price, which is far too high today.
03:07And in terms of performance, by which I mean its lightness and its wearability.
03:13And that is not the case with the current Vision Pro.
03:16However, the current Vision Pro is finding solutions in enterprise and healthcare, particularly in surgery.
03:28And those are really remarkable applications, which are arguably very, very consequential.
03:35However, again, this is not a volume business.
03:38And it's very atypical for Apple to be entering into an enterprise as its primary foothold market.
03:44Again, this has a lot to do with the technology and the complexity of this product.
03:48And let's just park products for a second and talk about regulation, because global regulators are increasingly scrutinizing big tech, aren't they?
03:55Whether you're sitting in Europe or the United States or China, how much of a constraint is this tightening rope going to become on Apple?
04:06So far, I think they've been able to mitigate a lot of the constraints that they've encountered, either through workarounds or through making minor concessions, changing a few terms here and there in their contracts.
04:25But the pressure has been there primarily, let's step back and understand, it's because Apple has over 2 billion active devices, which translates to probably 1.5 billion users.
04:37Those users globally are possibly the largest, most valuable user group out there.
04:46And for that reason, I think competitors are quite nervous that Apple is monopolizing.
04:53And indeed, it has been, to a large extent, the amount of money spent.
04:57So it's capturing a huge share of the amount of money spent on top of the device, not just the device, but rather the services and the downloadable apps and so on.
05:08And so for that reason, there's a lot of, let's say, friction going on.
05:12And governments are listening to some of these smaller players who are complaining.
05:17Again, I don't think Apple has suffered so far in the current ruling on the Google Monopoly case has given them somewhat of a rest that they are probably not going to get impacted then either.
05:31So it's possibly a death by a thousand cuts.
05:35But so far, they've been able to manage the blood flow.
05:39Horace, we'll leave it there.
05:40I'll let you prepare yourself now for the imminent excitement of the latest Apple releases.
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