Source: Wall Street Journal
The movie "F1" launched by Apple exceeded $0.155 billion in box office in its opening weekend and received rave reviews; however, Wall Street's tepid reaction to Apple's AI release at WWDC revealed the challenges it faces in the field of artificial intelligence. Ironically, the news that Apple is considering replacing the Siri engine with technologies from Anthropic or OpenAI spurred a nearly 6% increase in stock prices this week.
$Apple (AAPL.US)$ Last month marked two significant releases, with completely different results.
On July 4, according to media reports, the movie "F1" launched by Apple earned more than 0.155 billion dollars at the box office in its opening weekend and received rave reviews. However, Wall Street's lukewarm reaction to Apple's AI announcements at the Global Developers Conference (WWDC) revealed the challenges this technology giant faces in the field of artificial intelligence.
Reports suggest that the success of the movie "F1" highlights the effectiveness of Apple's long-term investment Global Strategy. Since the launch of Apple TV+ in 2019, Apple has persisted in expanding its entertainment Business, ultimately achieving a breakthrough that made original content lead the box office in the summer season. This film not only brought box office revenue but also became an important showcase for Apple's service Business.
In contrast, Apple's progress in AI has disappointed investors. At the WWDC, the company failed to showcase the advanced Siri functionality that investors and consumers expected, and the significant Siri upgrade that was originally promised has been postponed until 2026. Analysts thus lowered expectations for Apple's AI capabilities to boost the device upgrade cycle.
Previously, Wall Street reported that Apple is considering replacing the Siri engine with technology from Anthropic or OpenAI, which would contradict Apple's strategic principle of owning core technology, highlighting the company's lagging position in the AI competition. However, Wall Street reacted positively to this news on the same day. $Apple (AAPL.US)$ The stock price once rose by 2% and has accumulated an increase of nearly 6% this week.
"F1" demonstrates the potential of the service Business.
Apple's first true blockbuster film, "F1," achieved a box office performance of over $0.155 billion during its opening weekend, marking a significant breakthrough for the tech giant in the entertainment content field.
This success stems from Apple's long-term persistence. When Apple TV+ launched in 2019, it only had a few original series and a movie called "Hala." Although Apple TV+ was once seen as an expensive side project, Apple remained committed to its plans, expanding its team and operations in Culver City, California.
To promote "F1," Apple deployed a powerful marketing mechanism.
The company even sent movie ticket discount notifications to users through the Wallet app. CEO Cook appeared jointly with movie star Brad Pitt at the Apple Store in New York and recorded promotional videos with one of the film's producers, F1 driver Hamilton.
Although the film business accounts for a small portion of Apple's vast service division, it possesses unique marketing value. The services business includes multiple areas such as payments, iCloud subscriptions, magazine bundles, Apple Music, game bundles, warranty services, digital payment fees, and advertising sales, serving as a profit engine that investors have focused on since 2016.
AI development has encountered a major setback.
At WWDC, Wall Street was eager to learn about the latest developments in Apple's Intelligence suite, but the results were disappointing.
Wall Street Watch reported that Apple mainly showcased a few minor machine learning features and failed to introduce the advanced Siri version that investors and consumers had been anticipating.
In an era where AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are rapidly evolving, consumers' expectations for AI assistants have greatly surpassed simple questions like "Siri, what’s the weather today?" Apple had previewed significantly improved Siri features for the summer of 2024, but these features have been postponed until 2026.
Jefferies Analyst wrote this week:
We believe that current expectations for Apple Intelligence to drive a super upgrade cycle are overly optimistic.
Since Siri debuted on the iPhone in 2011, it has been 14 years, yet it remains essentially the same rigid Q&A system, struggling with open-ended questions. In contrast, Apple’s key competitor, Google, has done more to integrate advanced AI assistants into its devices.
Needham senior Internet Analyst Laura Martin stated:
The question in three years is whether Android is quickly surpassing Apple, which is a realistic threat within the investment timeframe.
Editor/jayden
