Apple is known for many things. They make stick-thin phones, pricey computers, and watches that don’t quite look like watches. They also put on a good show when they announce these products. Millions of people tune in to watch the company announces updates to their product lineup — months before they can even buy these products in stores.
Today, Apple held their annual developer’s conference — the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference — in sunny San Jose. Unlike their regular product “keynotes,” these conferences are mostly for software and hardware developers. Yet despite the tech- and jargon-heavy event, many new Apple products and updates trickle out of WWDC, as it’s affectionately known.
Today was no different. The House of Mac announced new iMacs, iPads, and even a cool speaker that rivals the Amazon Echo. Yet between all these reveals were announcements of new partnerships and products with a handful of non-Apple brands.
These brands — many of which are publicly traded — stand to gain substantial new business just by working with Apple, which could help elevate their stocks in the coming months. While buying Apple stock ($AAPL) is something everyone does, these stocks could soon see a nice bump in value thanks to today’s big announcements.
A big shout-out to Amazon.
Amazon ($AMZN) and Apple have a strange relationship. The Washington retail giant and the Cupertino-based tech behemoth are technically competitors when it comes to tablets, smart TV devices, and several other products. Amazon doesn’t sell Apple TV in favor of their own Amazon Fire TV devices, and their Prime Video service isn’t on Apple’s TV device either.
That will change later this year, as Prime Video will not only come to Apple TV, but it will be part of Apple’s TV app on its iPad and iPhone device. This could potentially mean more Prime subscribers through Apple’s devices, something that will have a small but meaningful impact on the retailer’s bottom line.
Photo book stocks?
Apple’s Photos app (previously iPhoto) lets users create custom photo books and ship them directly from Apple — for a price, of course. Soon, Apple will allow their users to order photo books from several other vendors, including Shutterfly ($SFLY) and Wix ($WIX). The revenue gained from these books is next to nothing for Apple. For these companies, however, it could mean millions of dollars in new business.
A good day for AMD.
Apple computers use two different types of graphics cars: those built into the Intel processors, and discrete ones created by AMD ($AMD). Today, the company announced their new lineup of iMacs, many of which come with dedicated AMD graphics cards out of the box. This means Apple is buying significantly more AMD cards than before, as previous computers made these graphics cards optional. AMD will also power the new iMac Pro later this year with their latest top-of-the-line graphics card.
HTC beats Facebook.
The latest version of MacOS and the soon-to-be-released iMacs will allow Mac users to finally play with virtual reality headsets. These headsets have been exclusive to Windows machines for the last several years due to device limitations. Several private companies are working on bringing VR to Macs, but HTC’s ($2498) Vive headset will definitely work upon launch. The company’s headset was featured throughout the conference, which will likely lead to a major increase in sales thanks to an entirely new user base. Facebook’s Oculus headset was noticeably absent and might not be compatible upon launch.
A small but awesome new feature for exercise companies.
Apple Watch users will soon get the chance to synchronize their workouts on treadmills and other devices with their fancy wrist computers. This might sound trivial, but for publicly traded equipment companies like Matrix ($1736), Cybex (Brunswick Corporation, $BC), TechnoGym ($TGYM), and Schwinn (Dorel Industries, $DII.B), this could be a major selling feature. By adding Apple Watch compatibility to their devices, these and other (private) companies could entice more users to buy more machines. In turn, this could allow the companies to see a nice bump in revenue.
Should you invest in these companies?
Each of these Apple partners operates differently from one another, and have their own strengths and weaknesses. While they might benefit from new business, it won’t make them the next Apple.
If you’re interested in capitalizing on these companies’ new partnerships, be sure to do your research before you invest in them. Many of them are also on foreign stock exchanges, and investing through a brokerage like Robinhood won’t be possible. If investing in exercise, VR, and photo companies doesn’t sound appealing, you could always invest in Apple.