mark fearing

I find it hard to believe that Apple thought that this first version would sell like gangbusters. They MUST have people connected to the real world who realize a $3,500 toy is off limits to the majority of the population. So I take it they went the Mercedes route - knowing they would sell less (Than Ford), but still have a good idea of how many would sell. Now the bigger question is - does anyone care about goggle based VR? And having tried them out for many years, I suspect it's a really tough sell to the vast majority of people. And the device rather quickly becomes an afterthought.  But hey, I'm open to being wrong here. I don't know. But my guess is Apple MUST have had a pretty solid idea on sales and that the 'shifting' to a cheaper set isn't a sudden thing, but part of the plan. 

The majority of the 'AI Frenzy' has everything to do with capitalism. First and foremost it gives Wall Street and companies a way to make it look and sound like they are deserving of more attention and a higher stock price. So mission accomplished. The market is dumb, and it overreacts and people, especially funds and investment banks, take a lot of cash out of this. The second thing is American Capitalism's love affair with not having employees so all profit can be cycled up to people who don't actually do work. And AI promises to relieve company of employing people so more money can be sucked from humans producing actual goods and services and put into the pockets of stock holders. So far AI has some efficiencies, in coding, and maybe research (Still GIGO). But mostly its hereto revitalize stocks. 

The Reason Kyle T. Webster left the company suddenly a few days ago?

I think the obvious answer is NEW HARDWARE designs will wait. But they will have to upgrade the chips on the models before 2025 or Mac Sales will be anemic. 

I'm sure it's for the ad tiers. That way they can make up for lower subscription with theoretically a larger audience to sell ads. I doubt I will ever sign up for an ad tier. If I can't afford the ad-free tier, honestly, I probably don't need the content that badly.  ALSO - I like dropping services through the year. I usually get HBO/MAX in the fall when the weather turns and I have more indoor time. But drop it come April or May.