# Apple should acquire Wolfram Research

[Wolfram Research](https://www.wolfram.com) is a strange company.
Its CEO [livestreams their R&D meetings](https://livestreams.stephenwolfram.com/category/live-ceoing/) 
and is publicly pursuing [a theory of everything](https://www.wolframphysics.org).
Maybe next he'll solve [the Navier-Stokes smoothness problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navier–Stokes_existence_and_smoothness)
and use it to attenuate his [reality-distortion field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field).

But in all seriousness, Wolfram makes [incredible software](https://demonstrations.wolfram.com).
Mathematica has been impressive [since 1989](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field).
Wolfram Language blew my mind [in 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjCWdsrVcBM), and continues to drop [massive updates](https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/quick-revision-history/).

More than any other company, Wolfram was perfectly poised to capitalize on the generative AI revolution.
[Their newest LLM updates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4CRHtjyHTI) are jaw-dropping.

And yet, Mathematica remains an academic curiosity.
Industry software devs rarely dabble in Wolfram world.
I myself haven't been able to justify forking over [$399/year](https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/pricing/home-hobby/) for it, despite having a pile of real-world use-cases for it.

Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft's OpenAI are commoditizing intelligence.
Apple is, uh, sitting on Siri.

**Apple should acquire Wolfram Research.**

It would be good for Wolfram:

- Many devs are hesitant to use Wolfram's opaque software. Apple could afford to make everything open-source.
- Apple has limitless computing resources. All of Wolfram Cloud would probably be a footnote on the iCloud servers.
- Wolfram apps could severely benefit from Apple's intuitive UX teams.
- It seems like more devs choose APL than Wolfram Language for [Advent of Code](https://adventofcode.com) each year. Apple's acquisition would probably cause unprecedented hype, and could foster a thriving community.

It would be good for Apple:

- Mathematica could become a "killer app" for Apple devices. There's nothing else remotely like Wolfram's ecosystem.
- Apple has always had a soft spot for schools. Paired with LLMs, a [free/cheap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader) Mathematica could revolutionize education.
- A deeper integration with Wolfram's knowledge base could make Siri smarter.
- Mathematica would be poetic justice for how Apple's [graphing calculator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl643JFJWig) saved the transition to PowerPC.
- [iOS development with Wolfram Language](https://www.wolframcloud.com/objects/c9576832-bd9a-4dd8-a9ed-7e8cccdf2b9a) could be pretty neat.
- Wolfram Language is great for programmatically editing [images](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/guide/ImageProcessing.html)/[videos](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/guide/VideoProcessing.html)/[audio](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/guide/AudioProcessing.html), and could make automations with [Siri shortcuts](https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios) infinitely more useful.
- Functions from Wolfram Language could give Siri thousands of useful verbs to enact: "Siri, [add some reverb to this recording](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AudioReverb.html)." "Siri, [make this photo look like this other one](https://www.wolfram.com/language/12/machine-learning-for-images/built-in-image-style-transfer.html?product=language)." "Siri, [trim this video](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/VideoTrim.html)." And so on.
- [All the other symbolic functions](https://reference.wolfram.com/language/) would make excellent additions to Numbers, Pages, Logic Pro, and the rest of Apple's first-party apps.
- Mathematica would be a lovely addition to the Apple Vision Pro. Stereoscopic vision and 3D manipulation would make certain branches of research much more pleasant.