Apple, this is the time to seize the moment

Apple’s competitors are reeling on bad news, which makes this a perfect moment for Apple to exploit their weakness and seize market share. And it’s well prepared to do so.

Just in the last few weeks, several big events have taken place Cupertino could and should exploit.

Reasons to be cheerful

Here’s the landscape Apple faces at the moment:

• The recent judgement against Google might eventually cost Apple as much as $20 billion in lost fees, but it will cost Android device makers money, too, since they also take cash to use Google as the default search engine. That means Android devices will inevitably become more expensive as manufacturers in that part of the highly competitive smartphone market struggle to make the numbers add up. 
• Security and reliability matter. That’s why when we look at the recent Microsoft/Crowdstrike failure that cost the global economy billions and generated human stress and (in medical scenarios) might have caused real suffering, we should consider Apple’s far stronger track record on security. While the miscreants try to evade responsibility citing loopholes buried in their T&C, Apple continues its “tireless work to keep our users safe.” If it is true that many in tech remain invested in Windows, Delta’s ongoing litigation over the Crowdstrike failure will further expose the weakness of such dependency. 
• Apple’s evolving approach to artificial intelligence (AI) in its devices and its determination to prize privacy above convenience further sets the company apart. This caution matches the public mood, which is to embrace AI in ways that augment, rather than replace, the human. While opinions on Apple Intelligence differ, its expected introduction will boost iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales.

These three factors amplify other ongoing trends, for example: feedback from employee choice schemes continues to overwhelmingly favor the Mac and iPhone; customer satisfaction levels for its products lead the industry; there’s growing recognition of the TCO advantages of its platforms; and Apple’s fast-growing enterprise market share acts as catalyst on its own — each deployment gives business users confidence to consider the platform. 

Action and reaction

That confidence is also turning into action. 

• Recent PC market data from IDC, Canalys, and Gartner confirm Apple is growing at a rate that dramatically exceeds its rivals, even while smartphone sales in those all-important not-yet-saturated emerging markets also favor iPhone. 
• In the background, you see hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in the wider Apple-in-the-enterprise ecosystem, which is growing swiftly.
• You also see Apple’s rapid iteration with its own Apple Silicon processors, which realize significant computational performance improvements with each new version. No one else comes close today.

To paraphrase the gravel-tinged tones of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ favorite, Bob Dylan, you really don’t need to be a weatherman to see which way this wind is already blowing.

So, what’s Apple doing to seize the day? 

Will Apple now change the game?

Apple is doing quite a lot, as it happens. Here’s what to expect in the next few weeks:

• First, it is upscaling its entire product range, pimping out all its devices with faster AI-ready M4 and A18 processors.  
• Second, Apple is reaching higher by going lower, planning to put A18 chips inside next year’s iPhone SE upgrade, which reports claim will be priced into the mid-range smartphone market, at around $500. 
• Third, Apple is expected to introduce new Macs this fall, all of which are said to hold M4 chips. These will include a much smaller Mac mini, which currently costs around $599. 
• Fourth, it looks as if Apple Intelligence isn’t going to be introduced until Apple launches new Macs (if it launches them) in fall, further reinforcing the “whole platform” advantage it enjoys.

Put it all together and within a few short weeks Apple will be offering the world’s most secure end-to-end platform ecosystem for AI priced so you can jump in for just $500. It will do this even as the reputation of its main rivals stands tarnished for reasons that really, really matter to \ users. It does so at a point in Apple’s history when it is already receiving the same degree of regulatory oversight as it might expect if it actually led the markets it is in.

So, why not become the market leader and make that attention worthwhile? This is the time.

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