As Apple product users and shareholders, occasions such as the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) and other Apple Events tend to excite us. However, as we had known for the past years, Apple had turned from revolutionary to evolutionary in their product and service offerings. Unlike the period when Jobs was at the helm, where surprises (and secrets) were galore, the current Apple is kind of predictable during their announcements.
Besides the upcoming new operating systems expected sometime in 3Q 2023 and the new souped up Macbook Air, Mac Studio and Mac Pro, the current WWDC’s piece de resistance is the Vision Pro, which is somewhat expected but still packed a mild surprise to Apple pundits and fans. With its launch, Apple is now treading into the area of virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR), yet this is not really the true story in my opinion.
Many observers noted that VR and AR were nothing new, and some claimed that Apple was WOLS (slow in internet speak) into the market; there were a few devices around, such as Meta’s Oculus and Microsoft’s Hololens, and not forgetting Google Glass, whose support for the Enterprise edition would cease by September 2023.
However, knowing Apple (and their products and services), this is not a standalone product: this is meant to be amalgamated into the whole ecosystem that Apple was and still is building for the users. The presentation video showed that the Vision Pro could be used in conjunction with a Mac, and Disney’s streaming service Disney Plus can be watched on Vision Pro. The potential of the former two: the expansion of the ecosystem with more products, and services, respectively, is huge, and there is no lack of Apple super users and fans who would willingly be part of the entire Apple environmental system. Despite the dominance of Microsoft in the desktop and laptop space, Apple is comfortable being second fiddle, for Windows is an indispensable computing tool, but Apple is the world for its users.
The intangible brand power of Apple still holds firm, regardless of the price that was tagged to its products. Although some products are really meant for the professionals (e.g., Mac Pro desktop), for the rest, utility, style and the logo still dominate. This spells good news for the investor, and the past four years saw an increase of Apple’s net income and free cash flow, signs of a company with healthy stable growth.
Disclosure
The Bedokian is vested in Apple and Alphabet directly.
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