Over the previous few months, two huge waves of Apple Intelligence options have debuted by way of iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2. Whereas some have speculated Apple is planning paid AI providers sooner or later, Apple’s CEO Tim Prepare dinner lately mentioned that charging has by no means even been mentioned. Right here’s why.
Apple views AI as being ‘kind of like multitouch’
Steven Levy at WIRED interviewed Tim Prepare dinner lately about AI and extra. One key quote has caught with me since that interview was printed earlier this month.
Levy: Some firms cost for AI-enhanced providers. Did you think about that?
Prepare dinner: We by no means talked about charging for it. We view it kind of like multitouch, which enabled the smartphone revolution and the fashionable pill.
Straight from the CEO himself, Apple reportedly ‘by no means talked about’ charging for AI.
His reasoning is fascinating, positioning AI as a kind of basic new know-how akin to multitouch and extra.
However it additionally highlights an enormous distinction between Apple and its AI opponents.
That distinction, I feel, factors to an much more necessary motive why monetization wasn’t on the desk for Apple.
{Hardware} stays Apple’s huge enterprise, bankrolling every part else the corporate does
When multitouch debuted on the primary iPhone, it was technically a free characteristic, sure. However it was inseparably tied to what was then a really costly new product.
Apple Intelligence could be very related.
Apple isn’t charging for AI, however you can also’t use Apple Intelligence except you first purchase a suitable iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
In contrast to the overwhelming majority of different AI gamers, Apple has constructed its main enterprise round {hardware}.
The corporate does have an ever-growing providers enterprise, however the bulk of its income is nonetheless tied to {hardware}. And inside that {hardware} bucket, nothing compares to Apple’s iPhone income.
So sure, Apple Intelligence is technically free as a part of iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2. However that’s solely as a result of Apple first bought you an iPhone.
And Tim Prepare dinner is aware of that very effectively.
Apple may give AI away, at no further cost, as a result of it’s doing simply fantastic promoting us all new iPhones.
What do you consider Tim Prepare dinner’s assertion? Tell us within the feedback.
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