Apple is preparing to make major announcements this
week as artificial intelligence (AI) agents become the primary way people interact with apps, with the company becoming an online gate keeper for data, privacy, and revenue.
“When you
want to download an app and sign up for a subscription, Apple takes a cut,” Wall Street Journal reporter Rolfe Winkler said during a podcast. “When you do a search in the Safari
browser, Apple gets a ton of money from Google.”
Apple’s WWDC26 event -- where developers, advertisers, and users listen in to learn about new features being released -- is
scheduled for Monday.
The company is expected to talk about its AI agentic opportunities supported internally and by Google, and then attempt to convince advertisers it has what it takes.
In an AI-enabled world, Apple is becoming a gatekeeper for revenue, mindshare and data.
advertisement
advertisement
This transition poses massive structural challenges and strategic opportunities for advertisers,
including the advantage that a user never needs to scroll through the app and therefore does not see the ads.
By using its App Intents API to perform multi-step actions inside third-party apps on behalf of users, Siri bypasses traditional interfaces.
"To win, Apple needs to evolve Siri into the orchestration layer of the iPhone," Wamsi
Mohan, an analyst at BofA, wrote in the report, which was cited by one media outlet.
For
example, a chatbot can recommend a restaurant, but an AI agent checks a user's schedule, discovers a nearby reservation, makes the reservation, texts a contact and confirms payment. All that takes
data, an integration layer, and trust.
This new Siri is powered by Google and Google Gemini will be the backbone. Understanding personal data without breaching privacy becomes key to
this relationship, and to the relationship with advertisers and consumers.
As John Ternus prepares to take Tim Cook’s position as CEO, WWDC gives the company one last major opportunity
to show how Apple’s AI strategy has progressed.
Dan Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, told CNBC that Apple Intelligence is “one of the big black eyes” of Cook’s tenure
at Apple that needs to heal before he leaves.
“This is clearly the moment that Apple can say, ‘Hey, we are capable of taking advantage of our multi-billion-user install
base,’” Newman said, adding Apple also needs to prove to developers that Siri is “something to build on” before developers can feel confident in the move.
Apple must
convince customers that Siri is useful, and it must convince advertisers that its platform can reach those consumers without putting their privacy at stake, which could tarnish their reputation.