Apple and Google Vs EU, Apple's Big Bet on AI | Bloomberg Technology
11 Sep 2024 (7 days ago)
Apple and the EU
- Apple lost a court fight with the EU over back taxes related to the company's tax payments in Ireland during the 1990s and early 2000s. The European court ruled that Apple did not pay enough taxes due to Ireland granting the company tax benefits.
- Ireland, aiming to attract foreign direct investment, had a lower corporation tax rate in the early 1990s. This led to accusations of Ireland being a tax haven. However, regulations have since changed, and Ireland now adheres to global taxation rules with a 15% corporation tax rate.
Apple's AI Focus
- Apple announced that its latest iPhone will have new AI features, including an updated Siri, phone call recording and transcription, voice memo transcriptions, notification summarization and prioritization, and the ability to create emojis from text.
- Apple's focus on artificial intelligence is more about enhancing user experience than promoting it as a standalone feature.
Apple's Health Features
- Apple's integration of health features, particularly in AirPods, could revolutionize the hearing aid market and drive continuous upgrades.
Apple's Competition
- While Chinese companies are making strides in innovation with features like foldable phones, Apple does not view this as a necessary area for them to compete in.
Deutsche Bank's Top Pick
- Deutsche Bank named Tesla its top pick in the auto industry, believing its potential to transform business models across multiple industries warrants a special valuation.
Rubrik's Success
- Rubrik exceeded its quarterly projections, surpassing expectations in both revenue and profitability metrics, leading to an increase in guidance for the remainder of the year.
- Rubrik's CEO believes that cloud transformation is beneficial to their business as more businesses prioritize cyber resilience, with cloud adoption being a significant factor driving this trend.
Cybersecurity Focus
- Microsoft is being recognized for its work in cybersecurity, particularly in bringing cloud and security together.
- Japanese companies are focused on cybersecurity, especially cyber resilience, as they undergo digital transformation.
Political and Economic News
- Kamala Harris wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and lift the tax on long-term capital gains for those making over a million dollars.
- Donald Trump wants to cut the corporate tax rate for companies that make things in America and make permanent his 2017 tax cuts.
- A private lender has closed its second debt fund, raising $125 million.
- Excel has invested $57 million in an open-source startup in Little Rock, Arkansas, called Laravel.
Oracle's Success
- Oracle has reached all-time highs as demand for its AI cloud products accelerates, driven by cloud providers purchasing CPUs and offering services to clients for experimentation and running new workloads.
- Oracle has recognized the high demand for data training and is willing to strategize to move more databases to the cloud, even if it means financial losses in some areas.
AWS and Oracle Partnership
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle have partnered to allow customers to transfer their data seamlessly between Oracle databases and AWS, enabling them to utilize AWS services like Amazon Bedrock.
- AWS emphasizes that this partnership is customer-driven and builds upon their existing collaborations with Oracle, dating back to 2008.
Bloomberg Technology
- The Bloomberg Technology team is located in New York City and San Francisco.
- Bloomberg Technology has a podcast available on the Bloomberg Terminal and online.
- Alphabet and Google have an ongoing tie-up.