Ali “picks up leaks” and “eats” apples

Written by: Internet Jianghu Liu Zhicheng

Two days ago, Ali confirmed that Apple would cooperate with Alibaba to promote AI model technology. When the news came out, my jaw dropped: Isn’t Apple’s AI partner Baidu? How did he become Ali again?

On closer inspection, this matter is very interesting.

This is like two big families getting married and the marriage certificates have been issued. Seeing that the day of hosting a banquet is getting closer and closer, one of the families suddenly issued another marriage certificate to marry someone else.

At first glance, Apple is not doing this properly. But in fact, Apple also has a hidden problem.

There is no need to say much about Baidu’s AI model, especially with DeepSeek, everyone almost forgot every word Wenxin said. As for Apple, its iPhone market share is declining day by day. The new product’s main AI capabilities have not been available for more than a year.

The matter of developing AI really cannot be delayed any longer. The cooperation between Apple and Ali on the AI model is a very pragmatic choice.

Ali’s official announcement that it will cooperate with Apple to develop AI is indeed very excited. In the battle between technology upstarts and technology old-timers, BAT players watched DeepSeek’s momentum, but the veteran technology giant still pulled back on the application side.

Ginger is still spicy when old.

Ali won the apple easily, and the AI version won the throne of nine sons.

Why does Apple like Ali?

There are many articles on the market that answer this question. As long as we explore technology, ecology, supervision, data, and the ability to serve the B-side, we can always find a suitable reason.

But what I want to say is that Ali may not be Apple’s best choice.

Ali may also have picked up a leak in this wave of cooperation on AI projects.

Cai Chongxin described Apple as very picky, saying that Apple had negotiated with many companies and finally chose Ali. According to Tianyan APP information, after Zhang Yong stepped down, Cai Chongxin became chairman and chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group, and Wu Yongming became CEO.

Later, news spread on the market that Apple had contacted many China technology companies including Baidu, Tencent, and ByteDance, and even considered the emerging AI company DeepSeek.

“If we take a micro-look at these companies, it is not difficult to find out the real reason why Apple chose Ali. rdquo; A friend from an investment bank helped me analyze it.

His view is that after Apple discovered Baidu’s true level, it would be a lot of face not to immediately stop the cooperation. In the remaining few homes, Tencent and Apple have problems, and Apple’s removal of WeChat has been a wave of excitement from time to time. In terms of ByteDance, there are overseas regulatory risks due to Tiktok.& ldquo; The DeepSeek team was too small and lacked experience in serving the B-side. In the end, Ali was almost the only one left.” rdquo; A friend from the investment bank said.

This is the truth.

The matter of Apple selecting AI partners in China is like the nine sons competing for the throne in “Kangxi Dynasty”. In the end, the one who inherited the orthodoxy was not the wise king Lao Ba, nor was it the eldest son who had made military achievements. Several princes fought back and forth, but in the end, it was the silent Fourth Brother who picked up the leak.

Where did Lao Si win? He won because he understood Kangxi’s thoughts best.

In his later years, Kangxi wanted to save the lives of his sons, he had to choose the fourth brother who understood his thoughts best. However, in terms of ability to govern the country, the eighth and fourteenth elders may not be really bad.

This is like Ali, who won Apple’s cooperation, may not rely entirely on technical strength. However, looking around at the table, only Ali’s ecological position is the most suitable.

Compared with Apple’s failure to choose DeepSeek, it’s the fact that Cook didn’t choose DeepSeek, which somewhat made us people feel aggrieved. After all, when it comes to product usability, DeepSeek can ignore Ali and Baidu Wenxin in a few words.

But on second thought, this may be the cruelty of reality. Being able to win an order does not necessarily rely on strength, but may also require a little luck.

Will Ali, who is favored by Sister Good Luck, really sit on the Diaoyutai Islands?

Maybe not necessarily.

History has taught us that what we can get through leaks still requires practice to test whether we can hold it securely. Just like Yongzheng inherited the throne, didn’t he experience the drama of eight kings ‘discussion of politics?

No, Cai Chongxin had just delivered his acceptance speech when news came to the face in the evening.“” Sources immediately revealed that despite establishing a cooperative relationship with Alibaba, Apple continued to cooperate with Baidu.

In this AI cooperation, Baidu has not yet left the table.

“There are two ways to interpret this news. rdquo; A friend from the investment bank said: It may be that Baidu and Apple have signed the contract and have to continue to implement it. After executing this project cycle, it is uncertain whether it will be stopped in the future. In addition, Apple may also have two options. Alibaba and Baidu are each other’s spare tires and engage in horse racing mechanisms. rdquo;

If the news on the market is true, then when Apple cooperates with Ali, Cook may not be interested in Ali’s AI technology, but Apple’s position can be relatively stronger in the cooperation between the two parties.

Working with Ali may be easier for Apple to control.

This is like the relationship between Party A and Party B. Party A ‘s father is always the final decision-maker of the project, and Party B is not good enough to satisfy Party A, so Party A ‘s father can replace you at any time.

In the AI industry, variables are still very large. In theory, although DeepSeek’s team size is small now, it may grow up one day in the future. If DeepSeek has the ability to serve external countries in the future, it will not be impossible to replace Ali.

This is in line with Apple’s consistent style of selecting supply chain companies.

In order to spread risks, Apple in the Cook era always purchased from multiple suppliers. For example, Apple purchased mobile phone screens from both Sharp and Samsung, and did not use the most advanced technology.

The same is true for AI.

The fierce competition in the mobile phone market requires Apple’s AI not to overturn, so walking on two legs is obviously safer. Apple is rich. If Cook felt that Alibaba and Baidu could not meet the demand that day, it would be possible to have another leg.

Challenges and opportunities coexist, and cooperation still needs to go through tests

Cooperation with Apple is a real benefit.

The fastest response is the market. On February 13, Alibaba’s Hong Kong stocks once surged by more than 9%, and its intraday share price once hit a new high since 2022.

Such popularity shows that Mr. Market is very optimistic about the marriage between Apple and Ali.

However, there are two sides to everything. In my opinion, the cooperation between Ali and Apple will also pose some challenges.

Tracing back to the source, Apple cooperates with major domestic manufacturers on AI for compliance. At the compliance level, big manufacturers are undoubtedly more experienced. For Apple itself, focusing on privacy and data compliance has always been strict with itself and people.

But the source of large-scale model technology still lies in data.

“If disputes arise over user data privacy, data usage scope or AI functions arise in future cooperation with Ali, what should I do? How to divide responsibilities? This is a question that must be considered.& rdquo; A friend in the field of data security said.

As the saying goes, if you often walk by the river, you will never get your shoes wet.

If a similar situation occurs, will technology providers such as Alibaba and Baidu face stricter regulatory review? Will it affect the compliance of other businesses?

This is one of Ali’s challenges.

In addition to data privacy, there may also be pressure from brand public relations.

In the past, the scale of C-end users of Ali AI was not large, but after connecting to Apple, the scale of users will increase 100 times. On the bright side, user growth has a bright point, but on the other hand, after connecting to the iPhone, Ali AI’s functions will be amplified.

For example, when it comes to sales, it’s okay if the sales of the iPhone 17 and iPhone 18 are good in the future. If the sales are not good, it may weaken the brand influence of Alibaba AI.

You know, in today’s China mobile phone market, Apple has become Others, and its product power has long been no longer the strongest. Therefore, Ali AI shares weal and woe with iPhone sales, which may not be a good choice.

Looking back, even if mobile phone sales are not good, Apple has a way out. After all, in the C-side perception, Apple is Apple, a great company founded by Jobs.

In the subconscious mind of most users, if the iPhone’s AI does a good job, then it should be Apple’s credit. If it does not do a good job, Ali will take the blame.

This wave tests the public relations skills of Ali brand.

How to reverse user perception is the second challenge.

To reverse cognition, it relies on technical capabilities. Whether we can use product experience to penetrate C-side cognition is crucial. Ali’s technical capabilities are of course very strong, undoubtedly strong, but even if someone as strong as Ali, there will still be times when he will overturn.

For example, a while ago, Alipay’s P0 accident was still vivid in my mind. During shopping, repayment, payment and other operations, orders were reduced by 20%.

For another example, during the 23-year Double Eleven period, Alibaba Cloud experienced a large-scale outage, affecting Alibaba Cloud Disk, Taobao, Salted Fish, and Dingbao. There are incomplete statistics. In the six years from 2018 to 2023, four major accidents occurred in Ali.

“After cooperating with Apple to develop AI, will a similar situation occur in the future?& rdquo; A friend from the investment bank said: If a similar accident occurs during the cooperation between the two parties, it may affect more than this cooperation. In the future, it may be more difficult for Ali to explore cooperation with other mobile phone manufacturers.” rdquo;

Potential T0 accidents are the third challenge facing Ali.

For Ali, the cooperation between the two sides is not all good, and some trade-offs are also needed.

In the short term, cooperation with Apple may affect internal resource allocation and require Ali to invest more technical resources in specific areas, which may affect the progress of other businesses.

For example, do we need to transfer technical backbones to serve Apple? If key personnel are transferred, will the progress of subsequent cloud computing and e-commerce AI business be affected? These are all things that need to be considered.

In the long run, if we cooperate deeply with Apple to open up AI technology, will we rely on Apple for AI technology innovation capabilities? This is also a question that Ali needs to think about.

“If Alibaba Cloud needs to give priority to supporting Apple’s AI computing power needs, it may weaken its appeal to local mobile phone brands in China. rdquo; A friend of a mobile phone manufacturer said: If Ali is deeply bound to Apple on AI, Alibaba’s cloud business may lose some potential users of mobile phone manufacturers.” rdquo;

From Ali’s perspective, the purpose of cooperating with Apple is not only to launch its own AI brand, but also to expand more potential cooperation markets.

After all, the cooperation between Ali and Apple is a business card, a benchmark case, and a card for Alibaba Cloud.

For Apple, the ultimate strategic goals of the two parties may not match.

“Apple’s goal is to improve product competitiveness, even as an exclusive feature for Apple. Ali may prefer to accumulate experience and replicate it to other mobile phone manufacturers.& rdquo; Friends from investment banks said: The bottom-level goals are different, and how long the cooperation can last is also a question.” rdquo;

Looking back, we have seen too many cases where cooperation between giants ended up in discord.

In the final analysis, their respective fundamental interests are still far apart. Now, after Apple opens its arms to embrace Ali, how far can both sides go on the road of AI?