As many of you will know, I am a keen follower of all things Apple and so I watched with interest last night as they unveiled what was their first new major product in almost 8 years!
I think this shows how the pace of hardware development in technology is really slowing.
The iPad followed only 3 or so years after the iPhone and the Apple Watch 3 or so years after that.
Many have accused Apple of finding a solution in search of a problem with their new Apple Vision Pro (Virtual Reality Goggles in plain english). In my view, the potential applications do look interesting, if you can get your head past just how ridiculous you might look wearing one of these down the street or just how dystopian it might seem us all wandering around viewing the world in virtual (or augmented) reality.
The criticism following the launch was fairly significant, however we have been here before….
People laughed when Steve Jobs famously said he wanted to capture 1% of the smartphone market with the iPhone. It now accounts for around 85% of all global smartphone profits.
People mocked the look of the AirPods with their little stalks that poke down past the ears, however a quick glance at any tube carriage shows just how ubiquitous they have become.
The point I am trying to make in a long-winded kind of way, is that I do believe that there is still room for growth in the technology hardware space, but probably from products that we don’t know we need yet and that don’t currently exist.
Apple (and many others) are incredibly good at creating products which at first seem a little excessive or extravagant, but which quickly become almost essential to daily life.
The big story at the moment though is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and this is where the big shake up is going to happen.
There will of course be an investment case to capture, but probably from some of the less familiar names.
Nvidia has just become a trillion-dollar company as they produce many of the chips that now power increasingly demanding AI applications.
I do believe that AI will change the investment landscape in an even bigger way than Apple and the iPhone have done – it will transform industries, perhaps wipe some out entirely and create new ones – the investment trick is to be ahead of this curve.
Being ahead of the curve might start to look quite tricky given how fast the curve is moving – bear in mind that ChatGPT was only launched late last year and already it has permeated almost every conversation I have in the business world.
The key will be capturing these opportunities in portfolios, while also avoiding the huge risks that tend to be inherent in any new technology or business sector. Quite how portfolio managers will aim to do this remains to be seen, but it is clear that a vigilant and watchful eye will be necessary.
