Gene Munster’s last Apple note predicts AR wearables will replace the iPhone
After years of being one of the most widely read and quoted Appleanalysts on Wall Street, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster on Friday released his final research note on the company.
Munster, who is leaving Piper Jaffray for a new career in venture capitalat year's end, has written 874 research notes on Apple, most of them bullish. In the final note, Munster offers his thoughts on the next years for Apple and a cool story of what got him excited about the company in the first place.
As for Apple's future, Munster sees the company looking to increasingly become a services company and points to augmented reality as one of the key opportunities for Apple to innovate.
"The smartphone remains the world's window to augmented reality today," Munster wrote in the note. "While this will change driven by augmented and mixed reality hardware in the future, we would expect the next five years of AR innovation will happen mainly through the device in our pockets."
Adding various sensors to phones and creating external glasses are among the short-term opportunities, he said. But over the longer term (more than five years out), Munster said he believes "Apple could develop some type of AR or MR wearable that ultimately replaces the smartphone."
"We believe the efforts in automotive tie back to services in that automotive for Apple may mean partnering with experienced automakers to deliver great services rather than building the hardware itself, cars in this case," Munster wrote. "While an autonomous vehicle solution from Apple, either a car or the software, is likely multiple years away, we view auto as the next platform likely for the company to try to own."
For those who want to follow Munster's next chapter, his new company Loup Ventures has a placeholder site here.
See the full story here: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/16/gene-munsters-last-apple-note-predicts-ar-wearables-will-replace-the-iphone.html