WWDC Preview: Siri, AR, AI, Digital Health

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Apr 28, 10:45AM EDT · Published May 30, 10:40AM EDT

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WWDC Preview: Siri, AR, AI, Digital Health — © Wikimedia Commons

By Gene Munster of Loup Ventures

Apple’s annual developer conference starts next Monday, June 4th.
Consistent with past WWDC’s, announcements will be software heavy. Most notably a preview of iOS 12 and the upcoming MacOS.
We expect Monday’s keynote to be highlighted by extending the reach of Siri (most likely adding new domains, opening HomePod to more capabilities, and integrating Spotlight), along with additional AI tools (new Core ML extensions).
We also anticipate new features around digital health (privacy and device management) and ARKit (development tools).
Expect Siri integration with Beats.
Collectively, these announcements advance the ease of use and intelligence of Apple’s mobile and desktop experiences.

Consistent with past WWDC’s, announcements will be software heavy. We expect the tone of this year’s developer conference to be similar to past years. Since 2000, we counted 47 software related announcements made at WWDC, 11 new hardware announcements, and 8 hardware update announcements. That compares to the past five years with 19 software, 3 new hardware, and 6 hardware updates. This year we are expecting 5 software announcements and 1 hardware-related announcement.

New Siri domains. In our testing of Siri over the past two years, we found the product lags measurably behind Google Home and marginally behind Alexa and Cortana. In our December-17, 800 question Siri test, she was able to correctly answer 75% of questions compared to 66% in April-17. Siri would have been able to answer about 85% correct if she was more competent within commerce and information. That 85% would essentially be on par with Google Assistant. Siri on HomePod is more limited in the number of domains, so adding support for things like navigation and email would quickly improve the experience. Siri can also improve the information utility by simply integrating Spotlight Search.

AI extensions. At the 2017 WWDC Apple announced Core ML. Core ML is a machine learning framework that sits beneath apps and third-party, domain-specific AI models, but above processing hardware inside of a Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple TV. Core ML allows app developers to easily incorporate third-party AI models into their apps. App developers don’t need to be experts in ML to deliver an experience powered by the technology within their app. In other words, Apple will take care of the technical side of incorporating ML, which allows developers to focus on building user experiences. Core ML currently has the 15 domains listed below. We expect new domains to be announced at this year’s WWDC.

Digital Health. Apple has been a leader in the privacy movement. We expect further announcements related to new features that notify users when their data is being shared with developers. Additionally, iOS 12 will likely have new device management features to curb screen time and digital anxiety.

ARKit. We remain optimistic regarding AR’s potential. That said, the use cases of AR to date have lagged our expectations, due to a lack of reliable hardware and software to enable developers to build compelling AR experiences. We expect Apple to announce subtle new developer tools to improve the AR development process and ultimately yield more compelling AR applications.

Siri integration with Beats. The knock on HomePod is its $349 price is about 2-3x the price of a typical smart speaker. We believe Apple can advance its digital assistant ambitions with a $250 Beats-branded option that does not compromise HomePod’s $349 price point. We are currently modeling for HomePod to have a low-to-mid teens digital assistant market share, and this Beats integration does not change our market share outlook.

Disclaimer: We actively write about the themes in which we invest: virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics. From time to time, we will write about companies that are in our portfolio. Content on this site including opinions on specific themes in technology, market estimates, and estimates and commentary regarding publicly traded or private companies is not intended for use in making investment decisions. We hold no obligation to update any of our projections. We express no warranties about any estimates or opinions we make.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.