With New Product Announcements, Is Apple Polishing Its Franchise Or Simply Playing Catch-Up?

This week at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple Inc AAPL unveiled a new set of augmented reality development tools, a new iPad model, a new iMac, a new HomePod home assistant and a new peer-to-peer digital payment platform. The home assistant and peer-to-peer payment technology are both new markets for Apple, but other competitors are already well established in the space.

While Apple bulls would argue in favor of the company’s disruptive potential, Apple bears would say the company is late to the game.

In reality, both arguments are true, according to Argus analyst Jim Kelleher.

“There are elements of truth in both views,” Kelleher (check his track record here) wrote in a new note. “The key point is that the enhancements and products announced will work to keep the installed base enormous, which may become increasingly difficult as new technologies such as AI threaten Apple’s device leadership.”

Related Link: What Did WWDC 2017 Do For Apple? The Sell-Side Weighs In

Apple’s most successful product of all time has been the iPhone, and Apple wasn’t even close to being first in the smartphone market. Instead, Apple won over customers with the quality of its product and its successful marketing.

With the HomePod, Apple appears to be aiming for a market somewhere between rival digital home assistants made by Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG and the high-quality wireless speakers made by Sonos, Kelleher said.

For now, the Apple story is still riding on the success of the highly anticipated iPhone 8 launch later this year.

Argus maintained an Overweight rating and raised his Apple price target from $160 to $175.