Apple faces the challenge of artificial intelligence on its 50th anniversary

The American company Apple is commemorating the 50th anniversary of its founding, after changing the culture of consumption in the field of technological products, but it faces a challenge in artificial intelligence to re-establish its position in the field of innovation.

The group’s founders, Steve Jobs, who was driven by a passion for innovation, and Steve Wozniak, the inventor of its famous computer, revolutionized the way people use technology in the Internet era, and founded a company whose value currently stands at about $3.6 trillion.

After modestly founding the company in Jobs’ garage in 1976 in Cupertino, California, the two students, who dropped out of university to devote themselves to this mission, changed the way people use computers, listen to music, and communicate on the go, and paved the way for a life centered around smartphone applications.

Consumers are now awaiting the new models of the company’s products, such as the Mac computer, the iPhone, and the Apple Watch, with eager anticipation.

According to Counterpoint Research, Apple has sold more than 3.1 billion iPhones since it was first introduced in 2007, and has achieved revenues of approximately $2.3 trillion.

Counterpoint analyst Yang Wang believes that the iPhone is the most successful consumer electronic product ever, as it has reshaped human communication and become a “global symbol of fashion and social status.”

Before that, Apple revolutionized the field of home computing with the Macintosh in 1984, which made computer use available to non-specialists, and launched a fierce competition between Jobs and Microsoft, which was founded by Bill Gates.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a message marking the company’s 50th anniversary: ​​“Apple was born on the simple idea that technology should be personal, and this belief, which was radical at the time, changed everything.”

The company brought about a major transformation in the music market through the iPod and the iTunes service, and made the smartphone a mass product. It also spread the use of tablets thanks to the iPad, and took the lead in the smart watch market with the Apple Watch, even though it introduced this product after its competitors.

The main credit for the company’s successes goes to Jobs, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 56. He was known for his insistence on blending technology with design to create intuitive and easy-to-use products.

David Pogue, author of the book “Apple: The First Fifty Years,” believes that the iPhone fulfilled the company’s promise to provide easy-to-use products. After the unparalleled success of this phone redefined the company’s business model, and in light of the prevailing belief that the smartphone market had become saturated, Tim Cook increasingly turned to selling digital content and services to users.

The App Store is the fulcrum of this strategy, as the company made it the only gateway for software on its devices, and through it it deducts a share of transactions, which led to accusations of monopoly, regulatory scrutiny in Europe, and judicial orders in the United States.

China is the most prominent country that contributed to the rise of Apple, and perhaps it will also be the most influential in its future. Cook worked to consolidate ties with this economic superpower, through his regular appearances at local Apple stores and his official visits.

The company’s current CEO was the mastermind behind making China the primary manufacturing center for Apple devices. This country is also one of the company’s largest consumer markets, providing it with tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue.

But the company is facing increasing pressure in both areas. Trade tensions and customs duties have accelerated efforts to diversify manufacturing locations towards India and Vietnam, while competing local companies such as Huawei have taken over part of Apple’s share in the Chinese market.

But what worries investors about Apple’s present and future is its slow progress in the field of generative artificial intelligence, compared to competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and Open AI, which created the Chat GPT program.

In what analysts consider a rare stumble, Apple was late in developing its digital assistant, Siri. Instead of relying on its engineers to redesign it, it turned to Google for artificial intelligence capabilities.

However, Apple’s focus on user privacy and the high quality of its devices puts it in a position that may enable it to push the adoption of artificial intelligence for personal use on a large scale, a goal that has remained eluded by a large part of this industry. The company is constantly working to improve its AirPods headphones through smart sensors and software, and the lessons learned from the “Vision Pro” device could contribute to the development of smart glasses powered by artificial intelligence, competing with the glasses of the “Meta” group, which owns “Facebook” and “Instagram.”

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies, said that Apple is a company that “always seems able to create a product so simple that users fall in love with it immediately.”