When Bloomberg recently reported that Apple was killing its Apple car project, I wasn’t that surprised. But I was disappointed that we're unlikely to see a project that spent more than a decade in development ever come to fruition.
Could this have been the first truly self-driving car? Could Apple have helped EVs — which are really struggling right now — into the mainstream? I’d say yes to the first question (as Apple was reportedly targeting level 5 autonomy) and maybe no to the latter since the Apple Car was tipped to cost around $100,000.
Regardless, I was bummed to learn that Apple was shutting down such an ambitious initiative. I understand why, as Bloomberg's Mark Gurman wrote: “The company’s board was also concerned about continuing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a project that may never see the light of day.”
That’s fair reasoning, and sure enough Apple’s stock price went up after this report surfaced. Why? Not just because Apple was going to save a lot of money but because the same report said that this move would free up resources to focus on new generative AI features. But recent reports have me worried about Apple's AI strategy.
Apple + Google = Investors first
You’ve heard of AI, right? It’s the buzzword that’s become the drinking game at every major tech event. OpenAI opened the floodgates with ChatGPT and Google is trying to play catch-up with its own Gemini product. And there’s plenty of other players in this exploding space, including Midjourney, Runway and Claude.
Apple can’t buy its way into competing with the Galaxy S24 and its Galaxy AI features or the Google Pixel 8. Apple needs to innovate.
Now Apple is reportedly contemplating a deal with Google that would see CEO Tim Cook bring Gemini AI features to the iPhone. Bloomberg broke the story and then The New York Times backed up this rumor with a report of its own.
One could view this as an extension of Apple’s long-standing agreement with Google, for which Apple pays Google more than $18 billion a year to make it the default search engine in the iPhone’s Safari browser.
Sure enough, Apple’s stock has been on the rise since these new reports surfaced. But this is not the way I want to see Apple catch up in the AI race. Apple can’t buy its way into competing with the Galaxy S24 and its Galaxy AI features or the Google Pixel 8 and its generative AI goodies. Apple needs to innovate.
Breaking new AI ground or retreading ground?
Back in late February during Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, Tim Cook promised that the company would “break new ground in generative AI.” But now I’m wondering if Apple will be retreading ground instead.
Rumor has it that Apple has big plans in store for iOS 18 and especially a new version of Siri. In fact, we’re hearing that iOS 18 will be the biggest iPhone software update ever because of the AI features Apple has been working on. But I’m worried that this rumored deal will look like Apple taking a shortcut to relevancy in order to placate investors.
It’s far from a mainstream hit but I like the Apple that "thinks different" and takes bold risks. Take the Apple Vision Pro — it’s heavy and expensive but it’s also an amazing look at the future of computing and entertainment. And I also like the fact that Apple decided to go ahead with this product despite reports of internal infighting at the company over whether the headset was ready for primetime.
Now Apple can keep refining the Vision Pro as it reportedly accelerates the development of a lower-cost headset and eventually develops true AR Apple glasses. Could this whole category flame out? Maybe. Apparently Sony has stopped making PSVR 2 headsets altogether due to overstuffed inventory. But I think Apple has a really good chance at pushing this category forward — investors be damned.
Now's the time to think different
So back to AI. I’m excited to see what Apple can do with generative AI. And while I get the temptation to get in bed with Google for a short-term boost, I’m concerned that Apple is compromising its principles to make Wall Street happy. Plugging in someone else’s search engine is one thing. But partnering with Google to bring its generative AI platform to the iPhone sounds uninspired.
For Apple to truly compete, it will need to put consumers first — and not investors — and leverage AI in new and creative ways that are quintessentially Apple.
