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Well, it’s not that those ChatGPT subscribers only have one app on their phone, though. Besides, different AI models are better for different tasks, so it is still good to have a device with access to different AI models. Who is going to get a separate ChatGPT, Gemini, Anthropic, Grok, etc. devices, when they can already use them all on a single smartphone?
There’s a significant number of people that have tied their personalities to ChatGPT. These are the folks crying out when a minor change in the model makes their “best friend” respond differently. These are not the folks interested in using different models for different tasks. (Folks that use different models will just continue to use the phone they’re using.) Offer these folks unlimited ChatGPT tokens when used from their phone, and they’d happily pay to talk and talk and talk as much as they want to ChatGPT. And, if OpenAI gets set up like an MVNO, they could get cell service subscription payments making it a profitable venture for them. And, actually, if it offered regular phone service AND had WhatsApp available, that’s all a large portion of the world would need. It would be an interesting test of an agentic deployment!
 
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Disruption is usually caused by a company you don’t expect, not a mega corp already in the space.

For example, Apple disrupted the cell phone industry. Tesla dominates EVs, not GM or Toyota.

I said for a while now that Apple is very susceptible to disruption by an AI phone because the hardware is easy and has been commoditized. Could Sam Altman do it? I don’t know but a truly useful AI phone WILL eat Apple’s lunch if they don’t get their act together very soon. Just look how fast Nokia and BlackBerry fell. Anyone who thinks Apple is different is in denial. It’s not a coincidence that Tim had to step down at this critical juncture.
Nah, an AI phone would eat Android’s lunch. Folks are already clamoring for something not-Android that’s also not-Apple, and in some cases, these folks also want a simpler phone with no or few apps. To me, this appears to be the right time for it.
 
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"He argues that fully controlling both the operating system and the hardware is the only way for the company to deliver a comprehensive AI agent service."

Somewhere in the world Alan Kay just smiled.
 
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Kuo argues that the smartphone remains uniquely positioned for AI agent use because it is the only device that captures a user's full real-time state, including location, activity, communication, and context...
It shows Kuo never tried to use a Piece of Crap with Windows 11 as it captures all of that and way more  😁
 
Nah, an AI phone would eat Android’s lunch. Folks are already clamoring for something not-Android that’s also not-Apple, and in some cases, these folks also want a simpler phone with no or few apps. To me, this appears to be the right time for it.
Aren’t these folks the ones going back to flip phones? They don’t want more tech, they want less. AI simplicity phones will just be a reprieve from the path that all tech seems to head down— an ad-serving, user telemetry machine.
 
I mean, as much as a hard pass that would be for me, competition is a good thing.
The other question is, is open still around to launch this in 2028?
 
Some good responses in here, but I see a lot of people saying that this thing won't be a threat to Apple. That's probably true, but we should also remember one thing from the past:

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Smugness like that and the "Imagine That" ad campaign showed a complacency that really bit Apple in the posterior, as the years passed. Ternus will most likely get the company moving forward with some direction now, instead of just inertia, but everything in the works at other companies - especially ones like Altman's which seem to have that "web 1.0" kind of burn money being thrown at it - really has to be considered.

Human interface is going to be the next big development in the OS field. This phone will have a screen but it may not be used for much other than watching videos, or single-instance data entry (phone numbers, for example). The OS in this phone may not just be the AI we're all unfortunately used to now, it may actually build the experience "on-the-fly". Like having a true personal assistant :"Make it so, Number One".

If thats the case, there's no need for an ecosystem at all. No need for apps to play music when you can say "play music that I like today", and the AI will build a music list from its perception of your attitude. No need for a contacts list when you can say something like "call the guy I spoke to last week about pressure washing the house". In fact there's no need for any kind of file manager or Finder when you can simply describe what you're looking for and the OS finds it. I think thats where everything is going. I don't like it but I can't stop "progress" any more than I can stand in front of a flood and block it.

I spoke here a few years back about a project Apple had on the front burner back in 2010-2011 that would have played well with this kind of thing. It was referred to as Project Magic, because it really would look like magic when the user implemented it. I didn't give out any details then because I was concerned that some Android folks might grab the idea and bring it back to Sauron, and now with AI scraping every forum and public square - and a lot of private ones as well - I'm doubly concerned that someone like Scam Altman and OpenSore could make use of the concept. I don't know what's happened with the project because we're several years past when the technology caught up to the concept.

Maybe they're waiting for Siri.
 
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In order to rival iPhone, you must not use Android tbh.
You must make your own OS.
I feel that the only people who could rival the iPhone was Microsoft, but they ended up flopping very early on.
I can see MS trying to make a Copilot phone not realizing that everyone on earth thinks Copilot is a deranged mental patient and not a useful tool.
 
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