Last month, Apple acquired a popular Final Cut Pro plugin maker: MotionVFX. It isn’t clear what this acquisition will turn into, but based on the fact that it quickly followed the launch of Apple Creator Studio, it’s highly plausible that Apple will integrate its templates, effects, and other offerings as a perk of Apple Creator Studio.
While that on its own is interesting, I think the implication behind it is far more worth talking about.
It’s an indicator of where Apple’s head is at
As someone who’s been following Apple for quite some time, it’s been disappointing seeing the company go stagnant in areas where they used to excel – software quality being the biggest one. It also feels like Apple rarely brings us features before we want them, and are often following industry trends. Apple Intelligence rollout being the most obvious example. Despite being one of the most well positioned companies to roll out personal AI, Apple has still largely failed to do so, even well over 3 years after the AI hype cycle started.
For better or for worse, Apple only seems interested in investing in technologies if theres a hyper clear path to profitability from the get go – which has always seemed short sighted to me, seeing as Apple has tons of money and could easily afford to risk just a little bit to ensure they stay at the forefront of technology.
Either way, for the first time in well over a decade, Apple seems interested in investing in its pro software once again, now that there’s a subscription incentive. Question is: will that scale?
If you’re a heavy user of the Messages app and iMessage, you’re probably well aware of how many awkward bugs it has. Weird group chat glitches, frequent syncing problems, recently-introduced visual bugs where texts get attributed to the wrong person, and so on. I feel like iMessage has loads of potential to be the next generation AI platform, and if Apple could monetize it, maybe we’ll have a Messages app that can work well. Just maybe.
Wrap up
All in all, this trend does leave me wondering if once Apple Intelligence Siri is perfected and out the door – will it require a subscription? Maybe not outright, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Apple required an iCloud+ subscription for features that heavily tap into Private Cloud Compute.
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It'll really depend on the task you're expecting the AI to do. I don't pay for general usage like research, day-to-day tasks, but I do pay for specific capabilities, like Claude Code. And I feel like that is a natural bifurcation for charging with this type of product, for the AI industry and Apple included.
And knowing Apple, they are the best positioned to truly democratize AI because they'll be constantly pushing the edge of local compute. Which minimizes costs for everyone, and increases the value of device upgrades - which Apple loves.
We’ve already seen one example of this with the new Apple Invites app that launched last year. If you don’t have iCloud+, you can’t create or share events using Apple Invites.
What do you think about Apple’s recent software direction? Sound off in the comments.
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- Anker MagSafe/Qi2 Ultra-Slim Battery Pack
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- Anker Nano 45W Fast Charger with Smart Display
- Anker 3-in-1 Prime 25W MagSafe Charging Stand
- Logitech MX Master 4 Mouse for Mac
- Satechi OntheGo 7-in-1 USB-C hub
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