Apple really is all in on AI. And by AI, we mean Apple Intelligence, the company’s first real foray into artificial intelligence. Apple Intelligence is only set to debut sometime in ‘Fall’ (or rather, Spring) in the company’s iPhones, iPads and MacBooks and eventually on the Vision Pro, all for free. But if Apple hopes to eventually make money off the thing, it’ll need to employ an original idea to pull it off – subscriptions. /s
Apple Intelligence Pro+ Max (Remastered) (the Movie)
That’s the plan, according to Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg in his weekly ‘Power On‘ newsletter. He cites Apple’s slowing pace where hardware upgrades are concerned and a sudden renewed focus on software for the big change. “The slowing pace of hardware upgrades also will force Apple to rely more on services fees and subscriptions to fuel sales,” he said.
It’ll take time, though. Years, if Gurman is to be believed. First, Apple needs customers hooked on the free tier (which will remain free for the foreseeable future) which includes all those abilities announced at this year’s WWDC. Once it’s done that is when it’ll implement something along the lines of a “Apple Intelligence+” which could introduce more advanced features and require a premium to access it — mimicking its iCloud strategy.
Read More: Apple Intelligence is Apple’s ‘inventive’ new definition of AI – Here’s what it means
“On top of that, Apple will get a cut of the subscription revenue from every AI partner that it brings onboard.”
It’s a big gamble. Everybody from OpenAI to Starbucks is digging themselves deeper into the AI hole, and spending a whole lot of money to do it. And with the AI industry being as volatile as it is, there might not even be an AI industry by the time Apple is ready to capitalize on the market. We’ll just have to wait and see.
