In the past few weeks, we’ve seen the release of Google’s Gemini AI engine for smartphones at Google I/O, Microsoft Build highlighting the rollout of Copilot+ for PCs, and Apple’s WWDC24 video showcasing the introduction of AI to both PCs and smartphones. Google’s debut was well-received, well-executed, and centered on intriguing and appealing features. Microsoft’s event was a bit of a muddle; its most advanced features didn’t work with any of the hardware that was already on the market, didn’t cover the majority of the PC market, and caused a lot of unwanted publicity for the Recall feature, which was hidden under unfounded privacy concerns.
More cleverly than Google or Microsoft, Apple integrated its AI, which stands for “Apple Intelligence,” into the majority of its product lineup, effectively connecting PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
This week, let’s examine these rollouts of AI products. We’ll wrap up with my Product of the Week, which is a sophisticated videoconferencing app that recently integrated Apple’s Vision Pro to produce an even more alluring remote work option.
Today, reaching consumers through marketing is one of the main issues facing any business. You could advertise to spread the word back when I was growing up on TV, radio, and a number of publications—many of which had a tech focus. These days, individuals use the internet, subscribe to ad-free video services, learn how to use ad blockers, or choose to ignore web-based advertising, making those more conventional media much less effective.
Keynote addresses at conferences like I/O, Build, and WWDC are one way that businesses like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have to reach out to people. Only Apple, though, uses its keynote address as a lengthy platform for product advertising. Google and Microsoft, on the other hand, typically follow conventional patterns and focus heavily on.
Nevertheless, successful offers pique the curiosity of developers, and keynote speakers don’t have to go into the specifics of products because audiences can typically attend breakout sessions to learn more about the technical nuances. Since each person has a different area of interest that is frequently unrelated to the technical demonstration taking place on stage, I would suggest that the majority of users are not interested in these details, and neither are most visitors at these events.
Therefore, Apple made a wise decision by turning its WWDC keynote address into a long-form advertisement and emphasizing its product customers above the audience of developers. Apple is the closest to having Steve Jobs’ amazing on-stage presence, even though it still falls short.
Difficulties with Microsoft’s AI Launch
A challenge Microsoft encountered when utilizing ChatGPT as its AI source was the platform’s inconsistent quality. Because of these problems, Microsoft’s products suffered, and the Wall Street Journal ranked it the lowest of the five AI assistants they evaluated. But ChatGPT’s most recent version—the one that Apple mentioned—came in second. Apple didn’t really integrate ChatGPT with its operating system. Rather, Apple made reference to it as a user-triggered option, therefore any issues that arise should be attributed to OpenAI rather than Apple.
According to reports, Elon Musk vowed to outlaw Apple cellphones for ChatGPT users. I suspect this would work out well because of the performance of Tesla, which makes me believe that individuals might be more willing to give up their Tesla than their iPhone.
Microsoft and Apple both released apps with aggressive indexing. Microsoft even gave its app the name “Recall.” These apps perform the same functions, but Apple, who put in more effort to explain how the technology secured personal information, did not receive the same level of criticism as Microsoft, which was harshly and mostly unjustly accused of exploiting this technology to spy on users.
This was probably caused in part by Microsoft Build being the first to release, which brought unfavorable attention to Apple early enough for it to alter its marketing and avoid the same result.
Comparing Apple’s AI Coverage with That of Google and Microsoft
Google’s AI will work with smartphones running Android, therefore it will be compatible with the majority of Android devices. The most sophisticated AI solution available from Microsoft, Copilot+, is limited to Snapdragon X Elite laptops that launch tomorrow, meaning it doesn’t support any hardware that is currently on the market. All of Apple’s lines were covered in the AI launch. You can use the Apple Watch to interface with it on your iPhone even if it doesn’t work on the Watch natively.
Developers could utilize the Google solution, but they would have to use it on their smartphone instead of their workstation because these are developer events. Even though workstation-class Microsoft developers’ discrete GPUs are significantly more powerful than NPUs for running AI workloads, they are not granted access to Copilot+. In contrast, Apple developers have access to AI on their tablets, desktop/laptop computers, and cellphones, meaning they have greater support and coverage than developers at Google or Microsoft.