“Is Apple in trouble with Facebook’s announcement yesterday of a platform for chat ‘bots’ that can respond to requests and conduct transactions?” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“Perhaps, is the view of UBS’s Steve Milunovich,” Ray reports, “who reiterates a Buy rating and a $120 price target on Apple, but warns that the reliance of Apple on ‘apps’ over the years has to give one pause when considering the prospect of bots taking over.”
The App Store, a $50bn economy according to App Annie, has been critical in transforming Apple from a linear pipeline to a platform company. However, messaging could take on many of the roles apps provide. In China WeChat provides high functionality, such as paying bills, hailing a cab, and checking into flights through apps within apps. Bots—software that automates tasks—mostly reside in messaging apps (apps within apps). Facebook just announced the Messenger Bot Store, a bot platform that allows businesses to interact with consumers. Could the App Store lose share? — UBS analyst Steve Milunovich
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MacDailyNews Take: No. And a grain of sand won’t stop Niagara Falls, either.