These all really good points. And also really good ideas. I think they're going half heartedly going the way you envisage (i speculate). Mimojis are pretty fun but literally It's an app my 3 year old wants to use. Runway ML has an awesome realisation of some of your ideas, well worth having a look at... Apple allowing developers to access their own AI on device foundation model is apparently a step ahead, but at the same time so much power is being kept under the surface that would be amazing to actually use. I love your thoughts and thinking btw.

I think "behind" because they are risk averse and short of a unifying vision atm. Share holder satisfaction and unimaginative decision making perhaps?

I think big tech companies take risks, calculated ones, and they're masters of prioritisation. Pushing AI to devices was a smart move by Apple. They're great at giving developers cutting-edge tools to keep an edge in app quality.

I just hope Tim's gamble pays off and we start seeing some amazing apps soon. Because Siri was a massive flop (cool tech, but completely useless), the camera software feels outdated compared to some Android phones, and the 3D emojis felt like a bad marketing idea to get kids playing with their parents phones and hooked on Apple (just like McDonald's did with Ronald the clown).