Apple (AAPL) hosted its annual WWDC event at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters on Monday, showing off a variety of improvements across its software offerings, including completely overhauled versions of the operating systems that power its devices.
It was a jam-packed show, but one thing Apple didn’t provide was a big, splashy AI announcement like its Big Tech peers Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) showed at their respective developer conferences last month.
Wall Street is keen on seeing Apple prove it has what it takes to compete in the AI race, and a showstopping debut, like its highly anticipated generative AI-powered Siri, could have done just that. Instead, Apple said it is opening up its AI software to its army of developers and served up a number of smaller AI features that augment existing apps and platforms with new, helpful capabilities.
And though that might not be the huge blowout news some investors were hoping for, the company’s slower, more focused approach to AI could prove to be its best weapon in the AI fight.
“Apple’s AI strategy, as showcased, leans more towards systemic integration and developer empowerment rather than delivering groundbreaking consumer-facing AI functionalities that have captured market attention,” IDC vice president Francisco Jeronimo wrote in a statement.
“While this carries the risk of competitors moving faster, it also delineates a potential pathway for Apple to offer differentiated value, likely centered on its traditional pillars of privacy and seamless integration. This is a classic Apple modus operandi,” Jeronimo added.
Perhaps the most important AI announcement at WWDC was the news that Apple is opening up its on-device language models to third-party developers. While this might not sound all that interesting in and of itself, the move could pay significant dividends in the future.
Apple’s decision to give its roughly 30 million developers access to its language models is “somewhat akin to a modernized App Store moment,” Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring said.
When Apple launched its App Store in 2008, it kicked off a massive explosion in app development that upended everything from delivery and transportation services to e-commerce and social media. It also gave Apple a fresh revenue stream via commissions on in-app purchases.
Opening its AI models to developers could likewise help spur developers to create new software options that go well beyond what Apple could produce on its own, driving the development of apps and services that could eventually become household names.
