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We've been all in on Apple today.
The company out with the biggest product launch of the year, the iPhone seventeen. A skinnier Air designed it improves durability and camera tech. As far as prices go, seven ninety nine is the starting price of the standard phone. The new air versional cost nine to ninety nine. The pro is going to go up by one hundred dollars with twice as much storage.
I want to bring in Dan Ives.
He's Global head of Technology Research at Wedbush Securities. He's also chairman of eight co holdings sort over three thousand percent.
After announcing a planned to button the news just.
A little bit by open eyes all. But that was yesterday. Dan's here on site at future Proof in Huntington Beach. We're going to talk about a co holdings in a minute, but first I just want to get your reaction to Apple, because you you actually I saw you you were on your laptop and then I got your most recent Apple note while we were doing our interview with Barry. You just you just you're maintaining your price target on Apple.
You and the team at web Bush us to make their three hundred and fifteen million folks out there who are ready to upgrade their iPhones. Is the seventeam gonna gun to upgrade?
Look, I think it's gonna move the needle. I mean, I think, especially in China, there's definitely what i'd pin up demand. I think street numbers continue to be pretty conservative to maybe low, and I think that's a great setup. Look, the reality is that this is not gonna be a super cycle. There's nothing here that makes you think that this is gonna be the game change that everyone's been
waiting for. But I do believe given the install base, given some of the tweaks here, and ultimately on the on sort of the second half of this upgrade cycle, you will have an AI driven ecosystem I believe will be Google Gemini. This could be a sneaky upgrade cycle that I think surprises investors on the upside. What do you mean because right now, expectations New York City cab drivers barrish on Apple, and I think that what I like about the setup is it's all about it's kind
of left behind. Now, A lot of that's been self inflicted, because every Apple event feels like it's a I feel like Michael J. Fox and back to the future. You know. So they continue to be left behind AI, but now with the Google DOJ issue in the rear view, they will double down ultimate in that Gemini partnership. And when you look at the install base, I think I think Street is underestimating what numbers look like for iPhone when you look out over the next six, nine, twelve months.
And I think in big tech, I view Apple from a sentiment perspective relative to where I viewed Alphabet. Maybe about six months ago.
You in your note ahead of the launch called Apple's AI strategy quote invisible. You said the elephant in the room, and is the black over the stock AI is invisible or Apple's invisible AI strategy? Did you get any more information today at the launch about its strategy?
I mean, I think fundamentally it they're keeping it close to the vest right like you in the words, like
it continues to be that black cloud. I think they're waiting for ultimately what's going to be Gemini, because I think they had a choice either go down the route with perplexity and ultimately look to acquire that or if it was a favorable ruling, then the Candlelight dinner with Google and sun Dar could ultimately start again and then you could actually double down that partnership, and that is I believe the direction. But look, Tim, they got it.
It was a black eye moment a year ago when they weighed out the AI strategy made it's ninety five percent of that had a backtrack on it.
Well now and now they've lost a lot of the senior executives that were working on that to not apply.
And we've talked about there's a better chance to me playing Ryder Cup Beth Page than any internal AI strategy happening at Apple.
But is that such a bad thing? And this is one of the things that Dan we talk a lot about that maybe Apple's just kind of watching. There's a lot of money slash around trying to figure out what ultimately are the standards, the methods the companies that really dominate right in terms of AI kind of protocols, and maybe Apple's like, I'll just watch and then we'll figure it out.
Are that bad? I think it's bad. I compare it to like Saturday night in New York City, there's a restaurant where there's one person in there at eight thirty like, oh, they must know something everyone else does. I'd rather go to the place where people are lining up outside when it comes to ultimately AI, time's not on their side. Lookquid open AI, Look at Meta wartime CEO, look at Microsoft. Look what are Google's done? That's why you as an all time high. So I do believe cooks recognize this.
But the problem is is that now it's a go time moment when it comes to AI and that look we've talked about, that's how you get the three twenty five three point fifty four hundred dollars stock is AI, you know relative to right now Apple, they're kind of on the outside looking in of that AI party where it's still ten pm going to four A.
Everyone wants to know about what the heck is going on Over at eight Co Holdings, your chairman of this company. Now, I think it took a lot of people by surprise. It's a crypto treasury firm. And for those who aren't familiar with the way this works, so Michael Sayler strategy, but with a different cryptocurrency. This is world Coin backed by Sam Altman eyeball scanning stuff what is going on here?
So I wouldn't have done this as chairman if it was just a regular token back strategy. The reason I did this it has to do with sam, It has to do with my view World is going to be a de facto standard for identification authentication in terms of human proof in AI world. This is much more of a tech infrastructure play than when i'd say the traditional crypto play. So obviously the reason I'm so excited about it is really this is going to become I think,
a huge part of the story and the narrative. It's really an intersection of AI and crypto.
Explain that damn.
So what that means is, you know, as timped it's IRIS scanned the orbs. Right going forward in the future, especially in the robotic world, bots everywhere, you're not going to be able to just identify through a boot check. It's really going to be IRIS scanning. What they've done already fifteen million humans on the platform I believe going
about one hundred million over the next year. That's going to be a form of identification that's probably the most privacy lock box out there, and it's secured by a token, a World token. So my view and our view as a team, this is early days in terms of where this is all heading. And that's why we want to do the strategy.
Now, what's to prevent somebody else from doing the same thing they are.
They're playing a different game than they They're Nvidia in twenty twenty two. And in other words, like relative to what Sam Alex and the team have built out, I mean from an infrastructure and authentication perspective, they are I think miles ahead. I don't see anyone that could catch them. That's why we bet on World as part of the acres strategy. And obviously having someone like Tom Lee and bitmnor you know, a big investor, that's another support that we're so excited to have.
You've also got an ETF the launched back in June. It's the dan Ives webbush Ai Revolution ETF.
It's up sixteen percent since launch.
It's outperforming the S and P five hundred and the Nasdaq one hundred, Broadcom, Google and Video, TSMC, Apple, They're the top holdings. Somebody watching right now might be like, Okay, he's got a clothing company, he's chairman of this crypto treasury company. He has this day job at webbush How am I sure that he's going to manage this ETF and have the time and resources to manage the CTF in my interest.
And that's a great question. I'd say, when you think about my chairman role, it's all related to AI in the infrastructure, and there was this is interrelated to my view of where the AI revolution gets built out. And the reality is that ninety five percent of my time has spent you know, three and a half million aire
Miles Well, I was twenty five years. I think what's what's enabled to distinguish us is feet on the ground talk talking whether it's private public partners and really, you know, I think that's how investors have grown to do.
You add do you add eight co holdings to the I E T F?
No, No, that would be totally it's a total separate operation. You keep firewalls between it.
Though, Like there's gonna be people who are saying, yeah, of course Dan's gonna talk up that he loves alphabet and that he looked loves Nvidio. I mean he's got an ETF like.
I just how do we sure like and and and and part of how investors know us the ETF is all based on our ives A I thirty. It's all based on our research. So the reality is I think part of how we've gotten so you know that the the customer, I'd say from an investor perspective, we've had massive uh you know, I think reception for the ETF is because it's our thirty names that altimately we've used the winners and we and we change at every quarter. And that's I think you about ETF, what it's based on.
It's all based on the research and got everyone here that knows dan ives they know like feet on the street, not sitting there in some Peter Malar fifteen to four of New York City office building. And the only time you travel is two times in San Francisco.
You just got back from Australia.
Yeah, so I literally landed here from Australia.
What were you doing there?
Yeah?
So part part work, part pleasure. So it's fun because look, I mean we when we talk at AI revolution like in Sydney, in Melbourne pack meetings, because the reality is that this is not just us. And that's why I spend so much my time traveling around the globe.
What might be the irrational exuberance part of kind of the trade today or the tech trade or the AI trade, and just got about thirty seconds.
There's gotta be some fluff out. Just because you say AI forty times in a conference call doesn't make yourself an AI need Look just because like Tim he was wearing an AI shirt because he says it fifteen times and says Tim on the back AI, it doesn't mean. My view is you have to distinguish the winners and the real ones from the fake. And that's three out. And then look, that's what we spend all of our time doing.
The one company you're most bullish on right now, public company.
SCUAI volunteer that's going to a trillion next two to three years. And I always say the haters hated, hated, fifteen, despised eighties, say it's super expensive one point fifty, they'll be seeing the same thing at a trillion.
Yeah, it's a company we've talked a lot about, I would say, in the last year, and then some tenives. Thank you so much, Always appreciate it. Glve Ahead of Technology Research at web Bush Securities