| From: Jon Koplik | 2/16/2025 1:01:46 AM | | | | | | 2/2/25 Bloomberg -- Apple’s AI and AR Struggles Show It Has Lost Some of Its Product Edge .......
bloomberg.com
or :
archive.is
a few excerpts :
<<<<< Apple’s struggles in emerging areas like artificial intelligence and augmented reality show the company has lost some of its product development edge. >>>>>
.
<<<<< When you look out at some of the hottest emerging areas in the tech industry -- artificial intelligence, augmented reality and autonomous systems -- it’s hard to say that Apple Inc. is leading the way.
.
<<<<< Despite the company’s best efforts to turn Apple Intelligence into a must-have AI offering, the platform is years behind what you can get from Samsung Electronics Co., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Chinese phone providers. The underlying technology and AI models also are nowhere close to the efforts of OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Baidu Inc. >>>>>
.
<<<<< Another buzzy area at the moment -- augmented reality -- has been a struggle for Apple as well. Though the Vision Pro is a phenomenal feat of engineering, it’s increasingly clear that the headset isn’t a winning formula. Consumers would prefer a lightweight set of glasses, and Apple has nothing yet to offer in this space.
The company has explored making smart glasses that would rival the digital Ray-Bans offered by Meta Platforms Inc., but nothing is imminent. And the company just canceled plans for a pair of AR glasses that would pair with a Mac. The ultimate goal of making standalone spectacles with augmented reality is probably at least three to five years away. >>>>>
.
<<<<< It’s harder to take major risks when you’re such a large, established company. But that position of strength also makes it puzzling that Apple hasn’t been able to break into new areas. Its AI and machine learning division, or AIML, is mocked as “AIMLess” by employees. The group has missed several deadlines, and its large language models -- a building block of generative AI -- are less powerful than those of rivals.
Apple’s Genmoji (AI-generated emoji) are fun and make for a great billboard, but competitors have AI features that can create video from scratch. Apple’s Siri digital assistant continues to misunderstand consumers and give perplexing responses. And the company’s news summarization has produced embarrassingly inaccurate results >>>>>
.
Jon.
.
.
. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| To: Jon Koplik who wrote (32632) | 2/16/2025 1:02:25 AM | | From: Jon Koplik | | | | 2/14/25 Bloomberg -- Apple’s Long-Promised AI Overhaul for Siri Runs Into Bugs, Possible Delays .............
bloomberg.com
or :
archive.is
a few excerpts :
<<<<< Apple Inc.’s long-promised overhaul for the Siri digital assistant is facing engineering problems and software bugs, threatening to postpone or limit its release, according to people with knowledge of the matter. >>>>>
.
<<<<< Getting Siri right is especially crucial for Apple, which first introduced the digital assistant in 2011 as a groundbreaking interface. After falling behind competitors, the technology has come to represent the company’s shortcomings in artificial intelligence. >>>>>
.
<<<<< In one especially compelling part of the demonstration, a presenter used Siri to quickly locate her mom’s flight and lunch reservation plans by searching across email and text message history. Now this very feature is one at risk of being delayed, according to the people.
Inside Apple, many employees testing the new Siri have found that these features don’t yet work consistently. >>>>>
.
<<<<< Despite a marketing blitz for Apple Intelligence, the company is struggling internally with a difficult reality: The AI platform is behind rival systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Alphabet Inc.’s Google Gemini and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Llama. The company’s AI and machine-learning team has struggled to meet deadlines, the people said, and some engineers believe the system was rushed to market to appease an AI-obsessed Wall Street. >>>>>
.
Jon.
.
.
.
|
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: Jon Koplik | 2/21/2025 12:44:14 PM | | | | | |
| Qualcomm to begin phasing out support for Apple cell phones. Plans to divert resources to more profitable projects.
Citing declining iPhone sales and the expense of supporting a shrinking and isolated ecosystem, an anonymous source said that QCOM plans on moving resources that are currently dedicated to Apple products to more lucrative projects.
Apple has long been spending billions in a lackluster effort to produce an inferior modem for their iPhones. The process has shown that QCOM could leverage the resources used to produce their superior modems for the iPhone into businesses with much greater growth and profit margins. QCOM will still collect royalties from Apple even when Apple completely switches to their own underperforming modem so there is no downside to the plan.
Qualcomm has been highly successful in diversifying their business away from cellular phones and is now the leading player in Automotive chips, commercial IoT, industrial IoT, and most excitingly AI on the edge. Additionally, QCOM's foray into Windows on ARM has developed into another profit stream with the company already commanding a 10% market share in less than a year with plans to expand their offerings into more Window's based computers.
"Apple knows they don't need a great product to keep their customer base. Apple consumers are a cult and Apple knows that spending money on better products with a focus on innovation is a waste of money. QCOM focuses on innovation and driving markets forward" the source said. "A walled garden approach can be profitable for a period of time but is ultimately doomed to failure as innovation and progress fall by the wayside. This can already be seen in the new iPhone Apple has released which is inferior in every way to similar offerings in the Android ecosystem of two years ago."
No one from Apple or QCOM was contacted to comment on this article. In fact, it may be entirely fictional. This is the internet after all.
.
.
.
|
|
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| To: Jon Koplik who wrote (32634) | 2/21/2025 12:49:46 PM | | From: Stock Puppy | | | | No one from Apple or QCOM was contacted to comment on this article. In fact, it may be entirely fictional. This is the internet after all.
Well, it could be real, but the last quote reads like something from a scam email...
Or one of those TV ads that tell you to buy gold no matter the market.
Hard to imagine that a professional company would state that - even if they believe it - in those terms! |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: zax | 3/7/2025 10:04:18 AM | | | | | | Brazil Orders Apple To Allow iOS Sideloading Within 90 Days
A Brazilian judge has ordered Apple to open its iOS platform to alternative app stores within 90 days, according to Valor International. The ruling cited Apple's compliance with similar requirements in the European Union under the Digital Markets Act without showing "significant impact or irreparable harm to its economic model."
The case originated from a 2022 complaint by Mercado Livre. Brazil previously issued a 20-day deadline in November for Apple to permit alternative payment options and sideloading, but that injunction was overturned in December. Apple plans to appeal. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: zax | 3/13/2025 3:14:33 PM | | | | | | 'Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino'
apple.slashdot.org
Apple's announcement that "more personalized Siri" features of Apple Intelligence would be delayed until "the coming year" reveals a troubling departure from the company's hard-earned reputation for reliability, long-time commentator John Gruber writes. Unlike other Apple Intelligence features that were demonstrated to media in June, the personalized Siri features -- promising personal context awareness, onscreen awareness, and in-app actions -- were never shown working to anyone outside Apple. Yet Apple prominently featured these capabilities in the WWDC keynote and even created TV commercials ( now pulled) touting these functions to sell iPhone 16.
This represents a dangerous shift toward the pre-Jobs-return Apple that promised vaporware it couldn't deliver. Gruber writes. Apple has squandered its credibility, built meticulously over decades through consistently shipping what they promised, he writes. Gruber's post cites the following excerpt from a 2011 story: Apple doesn't often fail, and when it does, it isn't a pretty sight at 1 Infinite Loop. In the summer of 2008, when Apple launched the first version of its iPhone that worked on third-generation mobile networks, it also debuted MobileMe, an e-mail system that was supposed to provide the seamless synchronization features that corporate users love about their BlackBerry smartphones. MobileMe was a dud. Users complained about lost e-mails, and syncing was spotty at best. Though reviewers gushed over the new iPhone, they panned the MobileMe service.
Steve Jobs doesn't tolerate duds. Shortly after the launch event, he summoned the MobileMe team, gathering them in the Town Hall auditorium in Building 4 of Apple's campus, the venue the company uses for intimate product unveilings for journalists. According to a participant in the meeting, Jobs walked in, clad in his trademark black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, clasped his hands together, and asked a simple question: "Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?" Having received a satisfactory answer, he continued, "So why the fuck doesn't it do that?"
For the next half-hour Jobs berated the group. "You've tarnished Apple's reputation," he told them. "You should hate each other for having let each other down." The public humiliation particularly infuriated Jobs. Gruber adds: Tim Cook should have already held a meeting like that to address and rectify this Siri and Apple Intelligence debacle. If such a meeting hasn't yet occurred or doesn't happen soon, then, I fear, that's all she wrote. The ride is over. When mediocrity, excuses, and bullshit take root, they take over. A culture of excellence, accountability, and integrity cannot abide the acceptance of any of those things, and will quickly collapse upon itself with the acceptance of all three. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: zax | 3/21/2025 3:45:45 PM | | | | | | 'Hey Siri, What Month Is It?'
apple.slashdot.org
DaringFireball:
Whole Reddit thread examining this simple question: "What month is it?" and Siri's "I'm sorry, I don't understand" response (which I just reproduced on my iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 18.4b4). One guy changed the question to "What month is it currently?" and got the answer "It is 2025." More comments from that thread:"I ask Siri to play a podcast and she literally says, "I'm trying to play from Apple Podcasts but it doesn't look like you have it installed." I didn't even know you could delete that app. I certainly haven't. So I have to manually do it every time now. It used to work." "I asked Siri last night to set a reminder for 3:50, so naturally she set it for 10:00." Further reading:
Apple Shakes Up AI Executive Ranks in Bid to Turn Around Siri;
'Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino'. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| To: Jon Koplik who wrote (32639) | 3/21/2025 3:55:28 PM | | From: Jon Koplik | | | | 3/20/25 Bloomberg on : Apple Stupidity -- Apple is poised to announce the changes to employees this week.
The moves underscore the plight facing Apple : Its AI technology is severely lagging rivals, and the company has shown little sign of catching up.
The Apple Intelligence platform was late to arrive and largely a flop, despite being the main selling point for the iPhone 16.
Jon.
.
.
. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: Jon Koplik | 3/21/2025 3:56:18 PM | | | | | | Reuters -- Apple losing over $1 billion a year on streaming service ...............................
March 20, 2025
Apple losing over $1 billion a year on streaming service, the Information reports
By Reuters
March 20 (Reuters) -- Apple is losing more than $1 billion a year on its streaming service, the Information reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
The tech giant has spent more than $5 billion a year on content since launching Apple TV+ in 2019 but trimmed it by around $500 million last year, the report said.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Apple TV+, known for original shows such as "Ted Lasso", "The Morning Show", "Shrinking", and "Severance", has lagged behind rivals Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon.com's Prime Video in terms of subscribers.
Industry leader Netflix had a total subscriber count of 301.63 million, according to the latest data, while Disney+ had 124.6 million users followed by Warner Bros Discovery at 116.9 million.
The iPhone maker does not break down the subscribers for Apple TV+ but it is estimated to have reached 40.4 million at the end of 2024, according to five analysts polled by Visible Alpha.
Apple TV+ productions have earned more than 2,500 nominations and 538 wins, CEO Tim Cook said in a post earnings call in January.
As competition heats up in the streaming industry, media companies are increasingly bundling their services at discounted rates to appeal to price-conscious consumers.
Apple TV+ is part of a bundle offered by Comcast that combines the service with Peacock and Netflix at $15 per month. Apple TV+ costs $9.99 per month in the U.S when bought separately.
The Cupertino, California-based company also bundles Apple TV+ with services such as iCloud, Apple Music and others under the Apple One program.
© 2025 Reuters.
.
.
. |
| | Apple Tankwatch | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| |
