Apple (APPL) held its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on June 9, an event many expect to be thrilling as Apple drops its latest innovations to awe its faithful.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case this year. Apple stock has made a slight drop since the first day of the event, echoing public sentiment that the presentation was underwhelming and muted.
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Experts commenting on the announcements noted the distinct lack of a big AI plan, with focus on smaller innovations like a workout buddy for Apple Watch users and live translation features.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who graded the presentation a ‘B,’ spoke to CNBC after the event, saying that Apple has “six to nine months to figure this out.”
“As a big tech player, this is their time,” Ives said, stressing that developers needed to know Apple’s AI strategy so they can plan ahead.
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Others had a more positive reaction to Apple’s reveals, with Morgan Stanley saying in its June 10 research note, “In our view, Apple still has the differentiators to be a clear winner in the AI era.”
However, there’s a catch.
“Until investors gain greater confidence that an agentic, Siri-enabled AI assistant is differentiated and monetizable, we don’t expect sentiment to shift materially on the stock,” the note reads.
Now CNBC pundit Jim Cramer has weighed in on the topic, with some advice directly aimed at Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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Jim Cramer has thoughts on Apple’s direction
Cramer started off by addressing the event in his June 10 “top 10 things” newsletter that he sends to his CNBC Investing Club.
“Apple’s artificial intelligence updates at WWDC were disappointing, though we admittedly weren’t expecting much heading into the event…Citi argued Apple’s stock is set up well for 2026, when the personalized Siri is expected,” Cramer wrote.
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But then he took to X on the morning of June 10 to share more thoughts on what he thinks Apple should do next if it wants to stay in investors’ good graces.
“I know Apple has an aversion to wanting to buy anything; I have to be critical and say they should buy Perplexity,” Cramer wrote.
“I know they can wait until someone pays them to be their default AI, but that’s what Google did with search and the U.S. government didn’t like it, so move on and buy,” he finished.
Why has Jim Cramer called out Perplexity?
Cramer’s recommendation of Perplexity will surely turn eyes on the AI company, which was already getting press for gaining funding from big-name supporters like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia.
Founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, Perplexity quickly gained traction, hitting a value of $14 billion by June 2025.
Perplexity offers users both a free version of its large language model software and a paid enterprise option.
However, one thing that may be turning Apple off from acquiring the company is the hot water Perplexity has already gotten into despite being such a young company. Multiple news publishers have criticized the company for scraping their content, including Forbes and The New York Times.
The same issue also led to a lawsuit from both Dow Jones and New York Post that alleges copyright infringement.
Related: Apple analyst raises alarm about earnings, revenue growth
