Monday August 4, 2025
Why I’m Still Betting on Apple in the Age of AI
I’ve been an Apple $APPL fan for years. Not the kind of casual fan who just buys the latest iPhone every few years, but the kind of person who lives inside Apple’s ecosystem. I use a Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. I listen to music through AirPods and the AirpPods Max, I stream shows through Apple TV, and my car, keys, luggage, and house are all connected to Apple-compatible tech. I am even a fair of the spatial computing and the Vision Pro (although I never found an app that would drive its use.) It’s fair to say I’m deeply embedded, and I’m the first to admit that the following opinion may be biased.
When people ask if Apple is falling behind in the AI race, I point to something they usually overlook. Apple hasn’t just built a brand, it has built a deeply integrated digital ecosystem that quietly manages every part of daily life. My texts, emails, health data, calendar, music, workouts, payments, photos, calls, and files all run through Apple’s platform. Apple knows who I talk to, what I’m working on, what I’m listening to, when and where I’m meeting someone, how I slept, where I’m traveling, and even what headlines I am considering as I write this. I understand when people find this unsettling, but I find it indispensable. That level of integration is what gives Apple an edge in building a personal AI that actually matters.
When Siri launched in 2011, it was ahead of its time. People got a glimpse of what assistant computing could be. Unfortunately, Apple never pushed Siri forward the way it should have, and over time, it became a punchline. In today’s AI boom, with ChatGPT and other LLMs capturing attention and investor dollars, Siri feels like a relic. That lack of progress has led critics to compare Apple to the slow-moving giants of the past who failed to adapt, like Xerox or IBM.
But that comparison misses one key point. The AI race is still just beginning. While others are building models that need massive cloud compute and sensitive user data to work, Apple has already been shipping custom-designed AI chips for years inside iPhones and Macs. That’s not just cost-effective, it’s privacy-friendly. Most of Apple’s AI work happens on-device, which means it doesn’t need to suck your data into some distant server farm just to be useful.
There’s also Apple’s under appreciated advantage in content licensing. Most AI labs are scrambling to make deals with publishers and media organizations to get access to high-quality training data. Apple already has had these partnerships in place for over 10 years thanks to Apple News. If Apple uses that content to train its own models, it doesn’t need to start from scratch or wait for complicated negotiations to finish. It could flip a switch and immediately access years of curated, human-written content across topics, formats, and regions.
Critics say Apple is being too slow. But AI development is expensive, and it’s moving fast. Some companies are burning through billions just to keep pace. Apple’s deliberate approach may actually be more sustainable. Under Tim Cook, Apple has been cautious, but it’s now clear the company is willing to make acquisitions to move faster. That’s a shift in strategy worth watching.
Apple has been counted out before. The company has stumbled, missed waves, and launched products too early or too late. But Apple also has a long track record of coming from behind with force. The Newton failed. The iPad didn’t catch fire immediately. People doubted Apple when it dropped Intel chips, but its in-house silicon changed the game. The company has always found a way to rebound. I think it will again.
Their current delays around AI are frustrating and Apple is trailing the pack. But Apple has the capital and technology, and can acquire the know-how. It now has the commitment to compete. Most importantly, it controls the one thing everyone else wants: a vast, loyal, and fully integrated user base. That is not just an asset. It’s a foundation. I’m still betting on Apple, not for what it’s doing today, but for what it is uniquely positioned to do tomorrow.
◾ The CFTC is launching a “Crypto Spring” initiative to begin implementing the recommendations from the Crypto Working Group's digital asset report.. (CFTC.gov)
◾ The UK Financial Conduct Authority ended its 2021 ban on retail trading of crypto-linked exchange-traded notes. (FCA.org)
◾ Tron founder Justin Sun completed a 12-minute suborbital spaceflight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket during the company’s 14th human launch. (Space.com)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said concerns about AI-driven job loss are overblown, arguing that humans will still be essential for oversight and verification as AI handles the middle-layer work. (X)
◾ The SEC is holding Crypto Task Force roundtables in nine cities through year-end, including two separate events in New York. (Sec.gov)
◾ Denmark introduced legislation aimed at protecting individuals’ rights to their voice and visual likeness to guard against deepfakes. (Weforum.org)
◾ Kyrgyzstan approved Nano Labs’ $NA proposal to issue a stablecoin pegged to the offshore Chinese yuan (CNH) for use within the country. (GlobeNewswire)
Financial Notices & Public Company Releases
◾ Nintendo $NTDOY reported Q2’25 results:
Net sales: ¥ 572.3 billion ($3.8 billion), up 132% y-o-y
Operating profit ¥ 56.9 billion ($384 million), up 4.4% y-o-y
◾ Trump Media and Technology Group $DJT reported Q2’25 results:
Net sales: $883,000
Net Loss: $19.8 million
Cash and cash equivalents: $1.3 billion
◾ Hyperscale Data $GPUS announced preliminary financial results for Q2’25:
Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash: ≈$27 million
Total assets: ≈$214 million.
◾ Metaplanet $MTPLF announced plans to issue up to $3.7 billion in new shares to raise capital for future bitcoin purchases.. (Metaplanet)
◾ Metaplanet $MTPLF purchased 463 more bitcoin ($53 million) bringing its total holdings to 17,595 BTC. ($2 billion) (Metaplanet)
◾ Mill City Ventures III $MCVT revealed a $500 million equity sale to support its SUI-based treasury strategy. (Businesswire)
Restructuring, Hacks, Losses & Legal News
◾ Arkham Intelligence revealed a previously unreported 2020 hack on Lubian’s mining pool that stole 127,426 bitcoin, worth $3.5 billion then and over $14.5 billion today. (X)
AI Announcements
◾ Apple $AAPL CEO Tim Cook led an all-hands meeting encouraging employees to rally around the company’s AI future, stating, “Apple must do this. Apple will do this... We will make the investment to do it.” (Bloomberg)
◾ OpenAI raised $8.3 billion in fresh capital, pushing its valuation to $300 billion. (NYTimes)
◾ Apple $AAPL is reportedly developing a ChatGPT competitor that can browse the web to answer general knowledge questions. (Bloomberg)
◾ Meta $META agreed to a $250 million compensation deal to bring a rising AI talent onto its Super Intelligence team. (NYPost)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ The Satoshi Nakamoto statue in Lugano, Switzerland disappeared and was later found on the shores of Lake Ceresio, with authorities suspecting it was vandalized by drunken revelers. (X)
📝 A public petition is now circulating to support the restoration of the Satoshi statue. Please show your support.📝
Metaverse & Gaming Briefings & Activations
◾ Riot Games confirmed Valorant Mobile will launch in China on August 19. (Sheepesports)
Market Data
◾ OpenAI reported $12 billion in annual recurring revenue and claimed over 700 million weekly users of ChatGPT. (TheInformation)
Exchange, Custody & Product Updates
◾ Crypto exchange Gates has opened spot trading services to users in the US. (GlobeNewswire)
◾ Bitget Wallet is introducing gas-free Solana transactions. (GlobeNewswire)