While testifying on Wednesday during Google’s antitrust trial, Apple executive Eddy Cue reflected on how seemingly invincible companies can suddenly lose relevance.
“People still are going to need toothpaste 20 years from now, 40 years from now. You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now. As crazy as that sounds,” Mr Cue, the senior vice president of services at Apple, told a lawyer representing Alphabet, owner of Google.
“You have to earn it. You have to develop. And so what we've seen always happen is the only way that you truly have real competition is when there's technology shifts.”
Mr Cue was responding to a question about what artificial intelligence is starting to do to search engine companies such as Google, and explaining how technology businesses often struggle to adjust.
He explained how he thought Apple had avoided complacency and had adjusted to huge technological shifts.
“One of the best things that Apple did in its history is we killed the iPod,” he said, with US District Judge Amit Mehta closely listening.
“We killed the iPod ourselves with the iPhone. Most companies have a very difficult time killing themselves when new technology comes along because you're afraid, why would you kill the golden goose, in a sense? And so, what I see generally is new technologies come about, new companies get formed, the incumbents have a hard time with it.”
Even the most casual tech and business observers would point out that Mr Cue’s testimony requires ample context.
Apple is sitting on an unprecedented cash reserve, and sales of its iPhones, computers and internet services show no sign of slowing.
Apple rarely makes its executives or employees available for interviews at such a lengthy and granular level.
Those attending Wednesday's court session got a glimpse of a top Apple executive lucidly discussing the daily grind inside one of the world’s most admired companies.
Mr Cue's testimony lasted more than an hour in a case claiming Google is a monopoly that should be broken up.
The trial has seen other tech executives, along with analysts, economists, and regulatory historians called to the witness box to provide insights to Judge Amit Mehta.
He ruled last year that Google had been illegally exploiting its dominance in the search sector to stifle competition and innovation, therefore harming consumers.
Among the DOJ's solutions is a proposal that would require Google to share search data with rivals to increase competition.
Google, however, has asserted that the DOJ's solutions unfairly penalise the company, and throughout the remedy trial has sought a significantly less consequential penalty.
“The plaintiff’s proposal is too broad,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said last week, questioning how productive it would be to share the company's search data.
“It would be trivial to reverse engineer and effectively build Google search from the outside.”
During the DOJ's trial, which began in 2023, Mr Cue was called to the stand, where he discussed a long-standing deal the company had to make Google the default search engine on its computers and iPhones.
During Wednesday's questioning, he painted a picture of a fast-moving tech landscape driven by AI developments that could render a strict remedy from the DOJ moot.
Mr Cue said Google's search engine makes Apple's products better, and seemed to warn against a harsh remedy that would, in turn, hurt Apple.
“We have to pick what's best for our customers and today, that is still Google,” he said.
Later Wednesday evening, as media reports began to pile up related to the future prosperity of Google in the wake of how AI was changing the nature of search, the company issued a press release.
"We continue to see overall query growth in Search," the statement from Google said.
"That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms. More generally, as we enhance Search with new features, people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they’re accessing it for new things and in new ways, whether from browsers or the Google app, using their voice or Google Lens."
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,000m
Winner: AF Mozhell, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Majdi, Szczepan Mazur, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Athabeh, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: AF Eshaar, Bernardo Pinheiro, Khalifa Al Neyadi
4pm: Gulf Cup presented by Longines Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Al Roba’a Al Khali, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Younis Al Kalbani
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Apolo Kid, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muahiri
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
