Om Malik on Apple Intelligence: ‘Fud, Dud, or Both’

Om Malik:

I have my own explanation, something my readers are familiar with, and it is the most obvious one. Just as Google is trapped in the 10-blue-link prison, which prevents it from doing something radical, Apple has its own golden handcuffs. It’s a company weighed down by its market capitalization and what stock market expects from it.

They lack the moral authority of Steve Jobs to defy the markets, streamline their product lineup, and focus the company. Instead, they do what a complex business often does: they do more. Could they have done a better job with iPadOS? Should Vision Pro receive more attention?

The answer to all those is yes. Apple has become a complex entity that can’t seem to ever have enough resources to provide the real Apple experience. What you get is “good enough.” And most of the time, I think it is enough — because what others have on the market is worse. They know how to build great hardware; it’s the software where they falter. In the case of Apple Intelligence, they have been caught short because others’ AI products, even when flawed, are significantly better than Apple’s own offerings.

Hardware inherently keeps a company honest in a way that software doesn’t. Hardware either works or it doesn’t. The only way to “upgrade” hardware is via installing newer software, or by taking the hardware apart and replacing physical components. It’s hard to think of a company, in any field, whose software is “better” than its hardware. Maybe Nintendo? But even with Nintendo, I’d say it’s more like their software is as good as their hardware. Also, an interesting thought that popped into my head reading Malik’s post just now: part of what makes Vision Pro so fascinating is that the software is better than the hardware. The hardware for immersive VR is so early-days that even the industry state-of-the-art — which is Vision Pro — stinks compared to where it’s going to be in even just five years. The 1984 Macintosh was a shitty computer with a 9-inch one-bit display, no hard drive, and an absurdly meager 128 kilobytes of RAM. But the software was amazing!

But the bigger, better point Malik makes is that “good enough” is enough to make Apple’s software seem ahead of its competition. I tried to make this point all the way back in 2007 with “Apple Needs a Nikon”, and I think the problem is worse now than it was then. No other company is even vaguely in Apple’s league. But Apple is sliding toward mediocrity on the software side. It very open for debate how far they’ve slipped. I, for one, would argue that they haven’t slipped far, and with an honest reckoning — especially with regard to everything related to Siri and AI — they can nip this in the bud. You might argue that they’ve slipped tremendously across the board. But what I don’t think is arguable is that their competition remains below Apple’s league. That’s what gives credence to the voices in Cupertino who are arguing that everything’s fine. Apple’s the only team in the top tier for UI design.

The best thing that could happen to Apple would be for Google to ship an Android Pixel experience that actually makes iPhone owners insanely jealous. Google is incapable of doing that through UI design. They’re incapable of catching up to Apple on hardware. But maybe on the AI front they can do it. Apple needs a rival.

★ Monday, 17 March 2025