Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2024 marked a significant moment in tech. The unveiling of ‘Apple Intelligence’ caused a major stir across the industry, leading many to question startups’ survival chances in the face of the new features and capabilities seamlessly integrated into Apple’s ecosystem. In just one hour, Apple dealt a heavy blow to numerous startups by showcasing its advanced AI tools capable of revolutionizing the user experience on its devices. Let’s analyze the impact and consider the potential casualties.
Let’s discuss several companies that could be severely impacted, or even forced to close, due to Apple’s recent advancements. With these features integrated directly into iOS and the broader Apple ecosystem, why would users continue to rely on third-party apps and services?
Writing Assistants: Grammarly, QuillBot, Copy.ai
One of the most impressive revelations was the introduction of Apple’s new AI-powered writing tools. These tools are integrated into macOS and can proofread, rewrite, suggest, and summarize text across native and third-party apps. With these capabilities, the demand for standalone writing assistants such as Grammarly, QuillBot, and Copy.ai could decrease significantly. In the future, users will have access to these advanced features in their usual workflow, eliminating the need for separate apps.
AI Image Generators: Bitmoji, Newji
Apple Intelligence’s ‘Genmoji’ lets users create new emojis instantly, customized for any emotion or situation. This feature competes directly with apps like Bitmoji and Newji. The ‘Image Playground’ also allows users to generate personalized images, making many generative AI image apps outdated. While Midjourney and DALL-E still have an advantage in creating hyper-realistic photos, Apple’s fun and user-specific approach could attract users from other platforms.
Video Editing Tools: Many in Danger
With the ability to edit videos by merely describing the desired changes, Apple’s new tools threaten to outshine numerous video editing startups. This feature, integrated into macOS, allows for seamless and intuitive video creation and editing, potentially sidelining specialized video editing apps that cannot compete with such convenience and integration.
The improvements in WatchOS and new fitness tracking features are putting pressure on popular fitness apps such as Strava, Whoop, and Athlytic. Additionally, the addition of hiking routes and directions in Apple Maps is challenging apps like AllTrails. Apple’s comprehensive suite of fitness and navigation tools may result in users abandoning third-party apps in favor of a more integrated experience.
Call Recording and Transcription: TapeACall
iOS 18’s capability to record and transcribe calls, automatically generate summaries, and share them across apps directly impacts call recording apps like TapeACall. The seamless integration into the native operating system makes third-party call recording solutions less necessary.
Payment and Financial Apps: Venmo, Revolut, CashApp – In Jeopardy
With Apple Cash now supporting tap-to-pay without needing a phone number or email, apps like Venmo, Revolut, and Cash App face stiff competition. Apple’s streamlined payment process, embedded within iOS, offers unparalleled convenience, which could attract users away from other payment apps.
Building a Future-Proof AI Application
While Apple’s advancements spell doom for many startups, they also highlight the importance of building resilient, future-proof applications. Startups can survive and thrive by focusing on three key concepts: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), fine-tuning, and function calling.
- RAG: This technique enhances an application’s knowledge base by leveraging a vector database with unique information. This unique dataset ensures the application offers something invaluable that general models cannot replicate.
- Fine-Tuning: Applications that fine-tune their models to align with specific user styles or preferences offer a personalized experience that generic models cannot easily duplicate.
- Function Calling: Integrating real-time data through APIs, particularly in niche areas, can provide functionalities that AI models alone cannot offer, thus maintaining the application’s relevance and utility.
By combining these strategies, startups can create data-driven applications that offer unique value propositions, ensuring longevity even as tech giants like Apple expand their AI capabilities.
Apple’s WWDC 2024 and the unveiling of Apple Intelligence have established a new standard in the tech world, posing a challenge to numerous startup companies. Nevertheless, by adopting advanced AI techniques and concentrating on distinctive, data-driven features, startups can establish a specialized market position and persist in innovating in this swiftly changing environment. The crucial aspect is to provide something more than just a user interface – something that major players such as Apple cannot easily duplicate.