Financial and physical storms are gathering. Wall Street has avoided all significant squalls for some time; whereas the Nation has been buffeted too frequently by major cyclones this year. Now both are rumbling-around again with all kinds of rationalizations which border on upside cheer-leading at or near the highs. Tonight we’ll focus on technology a bit; with a few charts that reflect Fed prospects as well. The overall market view remains one of S&P sort of flirting with exhaustion and becoming poised for a short-term turn.
Given how the world has changed in recent years, we thought it appropriate to note today is the 6th Anniversary since Siri premiered on the iPhone (of course Apple (AAPL) had bought the company offering it earlier in the ‘App’ Store).
The launch of the voice-command era continues to be refined; as today we saw next-generation products from Google (GOOGL), and perhaps notably, the FCC only today approved the iPhone X (the advanced model); which is just three weeks prior to pre-orders commencing (if not approved couldn’t be sold). It’s probably a good time to show outlined features that distinguish it from many others (including now-basic iPhone 8’s).
While some analysts ponder future devices, security, or the App-Generation (timely that Apple is supporting Ohio State’s first ‘digital’ curriculum for IOS design; which begins in 2018 and focuses from day one by providing all new Freshmen with an iPad Pro and digital pencil); again evidence that Apple is by no means holding back from the enterprise and design realm ahead.
That matters to the markets, both with respect to marketing challenges that exist in China (we’ve discussed the absence of key ‘Apps’ that minimize the sales and appeal of iPhones in that market) and the slow development of a transformational project with IBM. So even if IBM doesn’t impress with their numbers soon (and they probably won’t); this is in-context of what I outlined for over a year already, regarding IBM moving more toward an Apple as well as App orientation, not only because of the mobility (tablet) aspect, but also I suspect as IBM is well aware of security issues that must be surmounted. I believe that the world is so transfixed on cyber-security, that it minimized the aspect of moving away from Flash, away from Java, or away from Windows if one really expects to make progress over time. IBM and Apple grasp this.
