humbug1873

Let's hope I can now pick up an incoming call again (was broken for me in ios 17.0.0)

What a difference 20 years make. Still can remember in 2001, when Tim Cook showed up in our office. It more or less generated a climate of fear, because at that time Tim Cooks showing up meant layoffs will follow (and yes they did follow).

Standard Apple tactics for year (invented by Tim Cook), take the free cash flow to finance risky new technologies and secure a technical advantage from competitors by buying the whole production output for several years as a way to recover the money spent. Since you don't need to loan money for that it also makes financial sense. Happened several times before and makes perfect sense for a company that outsources many areas of innovation (as Apple does).
That way they stay up to date not like e.g. German car manufacturers (or as I call them tin folders as they essentially manufacture the hull around 3rd party products ), that outsourced all the areas of innovation to their suppliers and are now wondering how they fell behind.

And obviously building a factory in MGGA-Heartland (Make Germany Great Again) of Saxony is a bad idea, because who will relocate their on their own free will?

People just don't get it. Apple is rarely a techno-feature company but intensely focus on user/useable features. Oh look we've got this new techno-gimmick you can ... use (for what exactly we're not sure) ... that's not Apple.
I would guess they're probably working on a Siri Improvement, that can hold a conversation (eventually having in part generative AI working in the background) .. and that you can sell to the average user (and that is what an average user would care about).
... and beyond that, they won't talk about it until it is done.

Or to put it in hype cycle terms Apple will enter during the rise phase, work through the peak phase (usually in quiet) and then suddenly show up with something useful during the through of disillusionment phase and prbably be the reason we'll eventually rise to the plateau of productivity, because something truely useful comes out of it ... or will silently let it die if nothing useful comes out of it.

Where are we with generative AI!? Probably at the heights of the Peak going to fall down soon. Because essentially right now its more of a toy.