The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Apple kicks off its annual developer conference today with the stock down in the dumps. In a Globe special, Amber Kanwar quotes Bespoke Investment Group saying in a note to clients the gabfest lasts around four days (Monday through Thursday), and in that span, Apple's stock price has usually fallen despite any hype for new products. On average, Apple has declined a little more than 1 per cent during the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, with positive returns less than 40 per cent of the time. Last year the company bucked the trend soaring nearly 8 per cent because of the announcements in artificial intelligence. But the stock is barely up from the last conference, owing to a lack of progress with Apple Intelligence. The company has been shockingly slow in rolling out mainstream products, while the revamp of Siri has been indefinitely delayed. Apple's "AI strategy has faced many challenges since the launch of Apple Intelligence," Dan Ives of Wedbush said in a note. Mr. Ives remains optimistic the company will get its act together, "We estimate roughly 25 per cent of the world's population will eventually access AI through an Apple device over the next few years."