We're about to find out if Apple's big bet is going to pay off

The first stage of Apple Intelligence is upon us. But will it provide enough momentum for the next several stages?

- DAN MOREN

Apple Intelligence (fave.co/ 4d8uxoF) has hit the mainstream. Within the past several weeks, Apple has shipped iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, all bringing the first in the suite of features that Apple has been talking about since June. If you have any doubt, just go watch a TV show with ads, and I guarantee in 15 minutes or less you'll see Snoop Dogg hawking it as a selling point of the new iPhone 16.

Apple isn't usually the first to enter a brand new market, but it does have a reputation for helping usher technologies into the mainstream, and for setting the bar for its rivals, including being often imitated. With millions of Apple Intelligence-capable devices already in customers' hands, it's sure to make a big splash.

But as Apple is prepared to embark upon this new venture, it might be worth zooming out a little bit and looking at the company's overall strategy. That includes both how it's rolling out these features, as well as where the company is ultimately aiming.

ROUND 1: THE TABLE STAKES

Despite being Apple's opening bid in the generative AI feature department, the point-one releases likely won't blow anybody's hair back. The main Apple Intelligence features include rewriting tools, summarizations, and the ability to remove unwanted elements from photos-all tasks that other products, including those from Apple's competitors, already do and often do well.

But more to the point, very few, if any of them, have a particularly Apple feel. Could "only Apple" summarize webpages or emails? Making these tools pervasive throughout the entire operating system is certainly something that only a limited number of companies can do, but there's not much that's unique or novel about most of these features.