If you're a Seinfeld fan, then you all about Festivus.
The alternative holiday was introduced in the 1997 episode "The Strike" where George Costanza's father proclaims "a Festivus for the rest of us."
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Now, all these years later, Apple (AAPL) is proclaiming "AI for the rest of us" in the form of Apple Intelligence, its suite of artificial intelligence features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The tech giant made the announcement at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which dates back to 1983 when Apple Basic was introduced.
“Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a statement. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence.”
Apple also partnered with OpenAI to integrate the AI model ChatGPT into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Apple emphasizes privacy
Siri, Apple’s digital assistant, can also tap into ChatGPT’s intelligence, and ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, the company said, "to help users generate content for anything they are writing about."
TheStreet Pro's Stephen Guilfoyle wrote, "Apple is emphasizing an approach to AI that prioritizes the privacy of user data by running both locally on the physical devices themselves as well as on its cloud while being powered by the company's own AI-capable chips."
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"The goal on Monday was probably to convince investors that Apple is not falling way behind in the 'generative AI arms race' as has been suspected," Guilfoyle said. "Did Apple pull that off on Monday?"
He noted that Apple stock traded off 1.91% on heavy trading volume on what was more of an "up" day on lighter trading volume for the S&P 500, but added that "Apple stock is not known for especially strong showings on days where the company makes what it considers newsworthy announcements."
The privacy issue caused billionaire Elon Musk to air his grievances. The Tesla (TSLA) CEO, who happens to own X, formerly Twitter, said on the social media site he purchased for $44 billion that he would ban Apple devices at his companies.
"That is an unacceptable security violation," he wrote on X, adding that "visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage," which is an enclosure used to block some electromagnetic fields.
Analysts had much to say about Apple's event, and they weren't all grievances.
"This was a historical day for Apple and Cook & Co., and it did not disappoint in our view," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told investors in a research note, referring to CEO Tim Cook.
Ives, who kept his outperform rating and $275 price target, said “the entire tech landscape was laser focused on the highly anticipated AI strategy and further updates across both the hardware and software ecosystems that will drive the next growth cycle over the coming years.”
Analyst: Apple 'taking right path'
"Apple is taking the right path to implement AI across its ecosystem while laying out the foundation for the company’s multi-year AI strategy across the strongest installed base of 2.2 billion iOS devices over the coming years with the Street giving no credit for AAPL’s AI monetization."
Following the company's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, JPMorgan maintained an overweight rating on Apple shares and a $225 price target.
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Apple showcased enough enhancements on the feature sets across native apps and third-party apps with integration of Apple Intelligence to assure the expected upgrade cycle with the launch of the iPhone 16 and release of iOS18 in the fall of this year, the firm said.
JPMorgan said that while the shares "might be taking a breather" after recent outperformance into the event on the absence of any "killer apps," experience with consumer surveys with prior generations of iPhone launches tells the firm that the hardware upgrade cycle is more driven by a collection of feature upgrades across diverse applications, which in aggregate will provide the estimated 1.4 billion installed base reasons to upgrade over the next few years.
JPMorgan continues to expect the start of a device upgrade cycle for iPhones later this fall.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring said the event delivered slightly ahead of the firm's expectations.
Apple Intelligence, Apple's new personal intelligence system powered by in-house developed LLMs and complemented by an OpenAI partnership and GPT integration, strongly positions Apple with the most differentiated consumer digital agent, Woodring said.
The availability of Apple Intelligence only on devices with the A17 Pro and M-series chip should accelerate device replacement cycles, said Woodring, who keeps an Overweight rating and $216 price target on Apple shares.
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