That’s why Ross Gerber, President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, told TheWrap Apple’s latest product launch — spearheaded by the new high-end $999 iPhone X — was a pivotal moment for the world’s biggest company moving forward.
“You bring back the cool factor [with iPhone X],” said Gerber. “I’m at a party, I pull it out and everyone goes ‘oh, it’s the iPhone X.’ When I first got the iPhone 1, I can’t even tell you how many people stopped me wherever I was and asked me, is that an iPhone?”
Gerber said he’s bullish on Apple because it took worthwhile risks with its smartphone design. The iPhone X sports a larger screen, removed its trademark “home button,” and has a host of new features, like facial-recognition for unlocking. Compared to iPhone launches in recent years — which came across as mere updates to the same product — the iPhone X stands out from the pack.
“The most important thing, I think, was changing the design of the phone,” said Gerber. “Everybody walks around, whether it’s the [iPhone] 6, 7, or 8, [and] you don’t know.”
Gerber also pointed to Apple’s ARKit — enabling augmented reality developers to create AR games and apps for the iPhone — as a key differentiating factor. Another game changer for the iPhone X? Its animated emojis — allowing users to map their facial expressions onto their favorite poop or animal emoji, as Apple demonstrated yesterday.
“It’s a gimmick, but it’s genius, too,” said Gerber. “I don’t even think we’re going to talk to each other anymore. I’m going to pick an animal, and I’m just going to talk through my animal for the rest of my life, I’ve decided.”
A longtime Apple investor, Gerber said he bought shares of the company for “the first time in while.” The iPhone X — despite its rollout being a “little bumpy” due to production holdups — coupled with its new Apple Watch and 4K Apple TV, makes him believe Apple can regain its old magic.
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.