Here’s an exciting development that almost got missed during Apple’s heady week of iPhone news: Parallels has hit version 20 and now provides a series of powerful features designed to streamline artificial intelligence (AI) development. 

If you run Windows on your Mac, you’re likely already familiar with Parallels Desktop. It is, after all, the only solution authorized by Microsoft to run Windows in a virtualized environment on Apple Silicon. 

If you think back to when Apple introduced the M1 Macs, you might recall the entire industry was impressed by the performance Apple Silicon unleashed. One tester went on the record to say running Windows for ARM on an M1 Mac using Parallels Desktop 16 was “the fastest version of Windows” they’d ever used. “Apple’s M1 chip is a significant breakthrough for Mac users,” Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels senior vice president of engineering and support, told me at the time.

Parallels now says its software can run in excess of 200,000 Windows applications quite happily on Macs. With M4 Macs on the horizon, you can anticipate further performance gains — and with Parallels, Apple Intelligence has now come to Windows. 

Apple Intelligence meets Windows?

If you are running a virtualized Windows environment on your Mac using Parallels, you will be able to use Apple’s AI-powered Writing Tools once macOS Sequoia ships. 

Parallels hasn’t told us whether we’ll also be able to access other AI features from within the Windows environment, but it has said we’ll be able to sign into Apple ID across multiple macOS virtual machines on the same Mac. What this means is that developers can fully leverage virtual Macs for building and testing software in an isolated environment.

But the big hook for Parallels in this release is the AI development tools packed inside. The new Parallels AI Package is designed to make building AI models more accessible. To do so, it offers a virtual machine pre-loaded with 14 AI development tools, sample code, and instructions. The idea is that people who want to build AI solutions can install the package and run third-party small language models inside the virtual environment, even while they are offline.

This is included free in Parallels Desktop for Mac Business and Enterprise editions and is free to install in the Desktop for Mac Pro Edition for the rest of the year.

Why did Parallels do this?

“As PCs become more AI-capable, we believe AI will soon be standard on every desktop,” said Prashant Ketkar, CTO at Parallels. “This shift challenges developers to update their applications to fully leverage AI-enabled PCs.

“That’s why we created the Parallels AI Package: to equip development teams, whether experts or beginners, with accessible AI models and code suggestions. This enables ISVs to build AI-enabled applications in minutes, significantly boosting productivity for every software development team using a Mac.”

What else has improved?

Parallels, now owned by Corel Corporation, might have put a lot of effort into support for the AI wave, but the company has also delivered additional features that should improve the experience of running Windows on a Mac.

One big change: you might experience up to 80% better performance while running legacy Windows apps using the Prism emulator on Arm.

Another enhancement comes with a new shared folders technology, which makes it much easier to work across Mac and Windows files on apps. This feature also supports Linux virtual machines, which in combination with the power of Macs and the new AI toolkits from Parallels makes for a powerful DevOps machine. The Visual Studio Code extension lets you manage multiple machines, and even lets you access Microsoft Copilot when you do. 

The enterprise connection

Lots of people working with Windows on a Mac work at companies in which both platforms are used. For IT, this can raise challenges around licensing and deployment of operating system licenses.

For them, Parallels now offers a new enterprise portal that IT can use to manage virtual machines, licensing issues and more. To achieve this, Parallels built new tech to make it possible to deploy Parallels Desktop without resorting to complex scripts.

“These advancements mark a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to improving the IT admin experience. With these new features, deploying Parallels Desktop across a network of Macs is simpler and more flexible than ever before,” the company said in a blog post.

You’ll also find GitHub Actions to transform CI/CD workflows. In a related move, the software has attained a SOC Type 2 report, which means it is undergoing regular aggressive tests to ensure it remains secure. 

Smart for business

I’ve been watching Parallels since it first appeared on the Mac, and I’m liking the direction in which the company is going. While it remains a solid option for consumers who just want to run a few Windows apps (including games) on their Mac, it is becoming a powerful adjunct for developers, enterprise pros, and (with version 20), a useful passport to enable AI development as well. This edition builds on the many enhancements introduced in 2023.

That’s not bad for something that costs from $99 to $149 per year (Windows licenses extra).

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French AI startup Mistral has released its first multimodal model, the Pixtral 12B, which can handle both text and images, according to Techcrunch. The model uses 12 billion parameters and is based on Mistral’s Nemo 12B text model. Pixtral 12B can answer questions about images via URLs or images encoded with base64 such as how many copies of a certain object are visible.

Most generative AI (genAI) models have been partially trained on copyrighted material, which has led to lawsuits from copyright owners. (AI ​​companies claim that the tactic should be classified as fair use.)

It is unclear what image data Mistral used to develop the Pixtral 12B.

The multimodal model checks in at about 24 gigabytes, can be downloaded via Github and the Hugging Face machine learning platform, and can be used and modified under an Apache 2.0 license without restrictions.

Beyond the Writing Tools coming in Apple Intelligence, significantly faster processors, and the luxurious look of the iPhone 16 Pro models, there was little of explicit interest for enterprise users at Apple’s Monday product launch. Sure, the new iPhones are better in a multitude of ways, but it’s the platform — in this case, iOS 18 — that remains the key selling point for business professionals.

Here’s a rundown of some of the ways iOS 18 will help users get more done.

For many, iPhone 16 is a software story

We now know Apple will introduce iOS 18, the software that runs Apple’s devices and supports iPhones, on Monday, Sept. 16. When it does, it will also ship an iOS 17.7 update for customers who don’t yet want to upgrade to the new mobile operating system. 

With interest in Apple Intelligence running high (even though it won’t arrive til later this fall), enterprise purchasers should note the products removed from sale as Apple introduced its new iPhones. These include the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 13. (The company still sells the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus.) It’s likely Apple will add additional models (such as the iPhone XR) to its vintage and discontinued products list in the coming months.

This is a fairly standard cadence, but it is important to note that only the iPhone 15 Pro devices and iPhone 16 range will run Apple Intelligence. Apple usually provides service and parts for five to seven years, but the move to Apple Intelligence means some users (including enterprise customers) will find they must invest in more recent devices to use it.

They might want to bite the hardware bullet. Apple Intelligence provides several useful business tools, including powerful writing tools and contextual intelligence applied in useful ways (in Mail or Calendar, for example) to help busy professionals stay on top of things. Some may choose to use these tools on other Apple devices, as they are just as useful on a Mac. 

Otherwise, iOS 18 provides a grab bag of enterprise-useful improvements that don’t require the latest hardware. As it usually does, Apple has tweaked a feast of items across its operating system, and published a PDF containing 250 of these improvements.

Better for calls

While many younger employees may prefer messaging, phone calls remain critical in business, and iOS 18 has a range of improvements that can help:

Available for the iPhone 12 or newer, live audio transcription makes it possible to record audio within Notes or during a Phone app call from within the app. When you record a call, a warning message will let others know you are doing so. The conversation will be automatically transcribed and made searchable.

You can also search call history, dial smarter, and switch SIM cards more easily. If you use AirPods Pro you’ll benefit from much improved voice isolation through advanced computational audio. Finally, if you use messages for business communications, you can now also schedule messages as well as emails for despatch at a certain time. And RCS is now supported.

Better for missed calls

It would be nice if operators would expedite support for Live Voicemail. When you miss a call, this generates a real-time transcription of the message someone is leaving you as they speak – you can physically see it on your iPhone screen. It helps you stay focused while remaining responsive to important communications.

With iOS 18, Live Voicemail will gain support for additional languages and countries, including English (UK, Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Puerto Rico), Spanish (US, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico), French (France), German (Germany), Japanese (Japan), Mandarin (China, Taiwan, Macao), Cantonese (China, Hong Kong, Macao), and Portuguese (Brazil).

Cross-platform password management

The new Passwords app essentially revamps a service already available on iOS, surfacing it to make it easier. The app will sync and be made available across all your devices, including Windows systems. Combined with MDM tools, this facilitates provisioning, while maintaining the secure end-to-end encryption for which Apple is famous. The Passwords app makes it easy to search for the right account, while passwords will automatically be added to the app. Developers also gain an automatic passkey upgrade API to create a passkey when someone signs in to your app to let then know the passkey was saved.

Because some apps need to be secret

One feature that might be useful to some business users lets you lock and hide apps. A locked app gains an additional verification step that requires a passcode, FaceID or TouchID authorization before it can be opened. That’s good, but for enterprise app developers it’s important to note that information from a locked app cannot then be surfaced for use elsewhere on the system, including in search. You can also hide apps from view.

What time was I meant to be where?

While Apple Intelligence promises some excellent contextual AI features, Apple has also looked to the basics of its Calendar app. This now provides a redesigned month view to help you achieve a better overview of what’s coming up. Integration between Calendar and Reminders has also improved, so you can create Reminder app interactions from inside Calendar. This small but significant improvement should help dramatically reduce the number of missed appointments.   

A Lock Screen that works for you

While users might enjoy swapping out the flashlight or Camera app triggers from the Lock Screen for other apps, developers will want to tweak their apps for easier use from that screen using Apple’s new Controls API. App Intents will enable Siri to handle many more actions, so your enterprise warehousing app might end up being fully voice-controlled, for example, enabled by a single tap on that Lock Screen button.

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Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Apple have been in a fierce battle for domination of the chip market for AI PCs, which are touted as the future of computing.

Further ramping up competition in this fiery landscape, Qualcomm has reportedly explored buying portions of Intel’s design business, most notably client PC design, as Intel looks to spin off units ahead of an upcoming board meeting, anonymous sources told Reuters.

While it is said to have been considering an acquisition for months, Qualcomm has not formally approached Intel, the sources said.

“If Qualcomm makes this move, it could mark a significant shift in the balance of power in the PC chip market, potentially setting the stage for a more competitive landscape driven by AI-focused innovation,” said Scott Dylan, founder of NexaTech Ventures.

It would ultimately be a win for Qualcomm’s strategy to diversify beyond mobile chipsets, he added, “but it may also signal Intel’s retreat from its once-dominant position in the semiconductor market.”

Moving beyond a ‘saturated’ smartphone market

Qualcomm is most known for its smartphone chips, serving some of the biggest names in the market, such as Samsung, but it has continued to push hard into the chip market for AI PCs, and is taking direct aim at Intel as the company continues to struggle. Unlike Intel and AMD, with their x86-based architectures, Qualcomm offers ARM-powered chips, which are said to have better power efficiency and battery life — somewhere between 18 and 20 hours.

The company recently announced its PC processor, Snapdragon X Plus 8-core, which it said is designed for PCs as inexpensive as $700. It also entered into an exclusive partnership with Microsoft, with the computer giant’s Copilot+ PCs featuring Qualcomm’s X Series chips. Intel and AMD are not yet featured in these PCs.

“That gives Qualcomm a couple quarters of lead,” said Mario Morales, IDC’s group VP for enabling technologies and semiconductors. Still, he emphasized, “Qualcomm has an early lead, but it’s a long race.”

In an interview with CNBC, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said that the PC market is changing “fundamentally” due to the convergence of AI and desktop devices, and also because people expect the same performance from their computers as they get from their phones.

The company is probing the space because the smartphone market has become so saturated, Morales explained. Qualcomm is dominant in that market and is seeking out areas for growth and diversification. AI PCs are becoming increasingly important and “you cannot be a key semiconductor player and not get into the space,” said Morales.

Intel continues to struggle

Just last week, Intel announced its Core Ultra 200V line of processors, formerly Lunar Lake, to help keep Qualcomm and AMD at bay and maintain its share of PC chips and the laptop market. The processor line is designed to meet Microsoft’s requirements for powering a Copilot+ PC. Microsoft has said Core Ultra 200V, as well as AMD’s Ryzen AI 300, will likely be able to run apps on the PC as early as November.

“That way they can be AI PCs, not just AI-enabled,” Morales explained.

However, Intel’s stock is approaching record lows, and it has reduced staff by 15% and paused dividend payments. Its CEO, Pat Gelsinger, and other top execs are looking to trim operations, which could include the sale of its programmable chip unit, Altera. Morales explained that Intel has also recently gone through restructuring, splitting its design and products business from its manufacturing business.

“This is why you’re seeing the rumors going, because of that split,” said Morales.

Battery life has been a significant hurdle for Intel’s laptop chips, but in testing, the company said the Core Ultra 200V performs better than both Qualcomm’s and AMD’s chips. Intel calls the series the “latest evolution of AI PCs.”

ARM taking aim at x86

x86 (the architecture used by Intel and AMD) is the standard in the PC space today, comprising about 90% of the market (the remaining 10% is ARM-based), Morales explained. With this architecture, most components have separate chips (controllers), allowing them to be changed without impacting connectivity or the larger platform.

ARM (Qualcomm’s architecture), in contrast, does not have a separate CPU. The benefits of this architecture are lower power consumption and a longer battery life. This is “pretty compelling,” said Morales. However, x86 architecture has supported the PC market for decades.

“ARM Is still fairly new,” Morales explained. “What separates x86 from ARM is that legacy; x86 architecture will continue to play an important role in data centers and PCs.”

Yes, there have been gains for ARM, he noted, but those have so far been minimal. The architecture is “more pervasive” in other markets, including networking, storage, and embedded technologies.

It’s unclear what Qualcomm’s intentions would be around architecture: Should it acquire parts of Intel’s design business, would it seek to dominate both ARM and x86, or attempt to stifle the latter?

Morales, for his part, said: “Both architectures could have a position in the market. That’s been the case for the last few years.”

A fundamental pivot in the semiconductor space

Morales pointed out that Intel has a “very strong play in the enterprise. That enterprise play is what Qualcomm lacks today,” he said.

It’s highly unlikely that these rumors will come to fruition, he forecast — but if Qualcomm is eyeing Intel, it would more likely be interested in the company’s data center and networking segments than its design units.

In any case, it could signal a “broader strategic pivot” taking place in the semiconductor space, said Dylan.

“This move isn’t just about Qualcomm bolstering its existing portfolio; it’s a sign that the market is moving towards a more fragmented and specialized approach to chip design,” he said, pointing out that Intel’s struggles to generate cash and the 8% decline in its PC client business indicate that its PC division isn’t as central to its future as it once was.

“Qualcomm could potentially accelerate its move into the PC space, especially in AI-driven computing, which both companies are eyeing as the next frontier,” Dylan said.

Apple’s iPhone 16 launch on Monday generated plenty of attention, but it didn’t quite blunt the edge of the $14.4 billion European Commission (EC) tax hammer that finally fell against the company and can no longer be appealed.

This concerns an EC decision in 2016 when the courts found Ireland had unlawfully provided Apple with state aid in the form of tax breaks. Apple has fought the decision — CEO Tim Cook once called it “total political crap” — but finally lost that battle Sept. 10. 

Apple’s Irish twist

The case relates to the way Apple was taxed in Ireland between 1991 to 2014.  Basically, Ireland enabled Apple to sell products across Europe, record those profits in Ireland, and then send those profits to head offices that existed only on paper, leaving almost no taxable profit in Ireland.

In a statement, the Court of Justice said: “Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid, which Ireland is required to recover.” During that time, the court decided Apple benefited from state aid as a result of those tax arrangements to the tune of $14 billion, which the company must now pay back. 

An Apple representative offered some pushback: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.”

“As a result of the allocation method endorsed in the tax rulings, Apple only paid an effective corporate tax rate that declined from 1% in 2003 to 0.005% in 2014 on the profits of Apple Sales International,” the European Commission explained when the case first hit court eight years ago.

It’s important to note that while Apple and Ireland agreed to the arrangement, Europe argued the deal did not match economic reality and constituted unlawful state aid. 

A complex web of tax arrangements

One way to understand the complicated arrangement is like this:

• Apple had two entities incorporated but not tax resident in Ireland — Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe.
• These two companies held the rights to use Apple’s intellectual property to sell and manufacture Apple products outside the US under a “cost-sharing” agreement with Apple Inc.
• Ireland agreed that the two firms were required to make annual payments to Apple towards R&D, which meant (figuratively) that boat loads of cash went to the head offices of the two companies — offices that existed only on paper. 
• To put some perspective around this, Apple Sales International recorded profits of $22 billion in 2011, but under the terms of the tax arrangements it had been given in Ireland only €50 million was subject to tax. 

That quantity of cash constituted around half of Apple’s R&D spending during that time and meant the vast majority of Apple’s European profits were effectively untaxed, or — as Apple prefers to put it — were taxed in the wrong jurisdiction. 

$3,000 each

Apple isn’t happy about the outcome of the case. “We are disappointed with today’s decision,” the company said. “There has never been a special deal.”

Apple was required to hand the cash over to an independent third-party-administered escrow account in 2016. That account now holds around €14 billion. With a population of 5.2 million, the cash hoard is the equivalent of €2,692 (about $3,000) for every man, woman, and child in Ireland. 

According to local reports, Ireland’s Tánaiste Micheál Martin says the money cannot be used for day-to-day spending and that his government will now consider “how to use these funds in the best interests of the Irish people.”

Apple isn’t the only big tech firm in the crosshairs. At a cost of $2.7 billion, Google also lost its final appeal against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results.

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Not surprisingly, Apple Intelligence was everywhere during Apple’s big iPhone event on Monday. There were, of course, new phones (better, faster, AI-ready and arriving Sept. 20). But what was more interesting were the multitude of different ways the company has found where it can make a difference with various breeds of artificial intelligence (AI).

The variety of implementations — from sleep apnea detection in the Apple Watch to the use of AirPods Pro as a full-fledged hearing aid to a multitude of new camera features (including the new Cinematic Slow Motion tool) — all served to underline the message Apple has been giving: there’s more to AI than GenAI, and AI really doesn’t matter at all unless it’s making a difference in people’s lives.

Sweet 16 (and 16 Pro)

As always in early September, the business of the day was new iPhones, the 16 and 16 Pro, about which there were few major surprises. For those more concerned about form over function, this year’s new Pro color is a tawny, brassy, bronzy “Desert Titanium.” The iPhone 16 comes in five colors (if you count black and white as colors), including “Ultramarine”; the Pro and Pro Max come in four: white, black, natural titanium and that aforementioned Desert Titanium.

For those more focused on function and technology, the line-up will look familiar, though the Pro Max does get a slightly larger 6.9-in. display. Storage capacities range from 128GB to 1Tb, depending on model and size. Camera upgrades abound (as does a new Camera Control button on all models). And there are, of course, new processors — the A18 and A18 Pro. In addition to the more efficient and powerful chips, Apple also promises better battery life.

The phones will be available for pre-order on Friday, and will arrive on Sept. 20.

Unleash the upgrade deals?

With that date in mind, an estimated 300 million iPhone users might well be in the frame for a smartphone upgrade this year. And it looks as if the wireless carriers in Apple’s biggest US market are ready to help.

Apple claims some carriers will offer up to $1,000 off on an upgrade, and while we’ve run into some turbulence between carrier launch promises and the reality in the past, those kinds of deals may spur strong upgrades.

Those rebates should also put a little spark into second user sales, which could be good for any enterprise users out there hoping to add Apple Intelligence to their existing fleet. I suspect (but don’t know) one second line beneficiary from all this will be that upgraders of more modest means could see better-than-anticipated second user prices for older iPhone 13s and 14s as upgraders embrace Apple Intelligence.

Speaking of Apple Intelligence…

…AI don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing 

No one is likely to buy anything (even a new iPhone) just because it supports some form of AI. In some cases, buyers might even actively avoid such a purchase. But they will acquire AI devices that actually help them with their lives. (An Apple Watch that translates between languages, for instance, is a good example.)

Looking to show the many benefits of Apple Intelligence while also unveiling its new iPhone line-up was precisely the dance Apple made during the Glowtime product introductions. Put simply: the benefits needed to be explained.

And while Apple Intelligence was certainly a part of the discussion, the company resolutely repeated an additional message — “This is just the beginning.” Anyone who has ever bet against Apple knows what that means: a line in the sand has been drawn, and the company has no intention of staying behind it. 

The fact that the company also mentioned that Apple Intelligence features are to be provided “free” with future software updates also hints that some day not every feature will be gratis.

Core message: Watch this space.

Apple Silicon: A platform development opportunity

Apple Silicon remains strategically critical to Apple’s future. Three bits of news particularly stood out: the inclusion of a 4-core neural engine on Apple Watch, and the new 3-nanometer A18 and 18 Pro chips inside iPhones. 

Other than the expected big benefits in performance and battery life across all three products as a result of the new chips, what matters most is that all three have now been transformed into AI platforms.

The Apple Watch could turn out to be even more interesting, as the challenge for developer and enterprise users (and Apple) will be to find what kinds of useful AI experiences can now be built for it. The introduction of the neural engines means AI will be extended to the Watch — even as Apple explores the extent to which the world’s most powerful smartphone processor can support cutting-edge use cases for mobile AI. 

(For most knowledge workers, the most interesting use case for Apple Intelligence will be sending more professional emails when responding later than you should, and summarizing lengthy messages so understanding them doesn’t make your brain hurt.)

Health: The new frontier?

Health was certainly a major topic during the announcement. Apple CEO Tim Cook has always resolutely spoken up for the benefits his company can bring to health, and that stance did not change this year. The link between Apple, its deep investments in health-related research, and the application of machine intelligence and other forms of AI was made crystal clear. 

New health-related features in both the Apple Watch and across the AirPods range will make a big difference to many people, and Apple is determined to use these platforms to augment health outcomes in quite significant ways. The big challenge to office managers and human resource types might be the need to learn that just because someone is wearing AirPods at work doesn’t mean they are shirking – they might just need help hearing. 

Efficiency for all (but no new iPads or Macs, yet)

If there’s one more thing this year, it’s this: Apple made no explicit mention about iPads or Macs during its iPhone launch (no surprise there). But if it had done so, it might well have pointed to the huge performance and battery life improvements in the new A18/A18 Pro chips. No doubt, company execs will soon be able to point to similar boosts to computational efficiency and battery life/energy consumption in Apple’s other products, too.

Of course, improvements like those are nice if you upgrade your own Mac. But for offices with a few hundred machines in use, a 20% power reduction means a much lower energy bill. Plus, you don’t need to use Crowdstrike and you get to use Apple Intelligence across tablet, smartphone, and PC.

Apple’s AI platform is becoming a reality, and it’s being sold for the real-world benefits it brings, not thrown out as a random buzzword. Then again, extolling the benefits of its platforms has always been how Apple shows its Apple intelligence.

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