Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay

[bob24]

Tim Cook is not a visionary, that guy just milks products til their last penny and creates dozens of variations and confusion when purchasing a product. So sad!

100% agree, I’ve also been saying this for a while.

Steve Jobs was Apple’s Bill Gates (the iconic founder with a true vision for the company and the ability to create new business opportunities).

Tim Cook is Apple’s Steve Balmer (a guy who lacks his predecessors vision and is milking his legacy).

Apple now needs to find its Satya Nadella (a new visionary leader who has a vision for the company’s future and the ability to deliver it).


Only difference between Cook and Balmer is that while Cook isn’t a visionary he is a more competent operations guys that Balmer and Jobs left him with a good game plan for years to come, so he is able to milk the legacy for longer. But he is now reaching the limit of how far he can go.

 

[Martius]

You can have all the money in the world, but if that's all you care about, the most capable and passionate people will go do something else.

 

[macfacts]

To be honest, I'm not sure this would be something I would brag about...

If no one knows they worked on Siri(no one is going around bragging they worked on Siri), then they would have no reason to be embarrassed

 

[9081094]

Having never used an Android phone or tablet - how do they handle software/OS updates?

Same as Apple does. Fully automatic.

 

[attohs]

The public needs a keynote apology at this point. This is beyond embarrassing. The fall from grace indoor their software is accelerating.

Not much of the public is aware of this issue. Having a keynote will expand the problem by telling people not having a problem that there is a problem. This is quite a bit different, in terms of public knowledge, from the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

 

[btrach144]

Siri has been a joke for over a decade. Tim Cook has allowed it to fumble for way too long. The tech debt within it must be massive.

And now they really need to convert it into Siri 2.0 but they can’t.

Heads should be rolling and overtime should be mandatory or else Apple will be left behind.

 

[bob24]

Dude, Siri has been out for 13 years. How much time do they need?

Especially when you see the speed at which GenAI company can release new products which are all better that Siri for most tasks.

What I am using M365 Copilot at work and what Microsoft/OpenAI have deliver is much more useful to me than Siri has ever been as a personal assistant (which has access to all my data).

 

[slb]

I realize some people might wish for a Job-style rage-firing, but the fact that hasn't happened leads me to believe that perhaps the Siri team was always upfront about their progress but was overruled by marketing forces within the company. That or it's just not worth restructuring a team in the middle of a critical period of catch-up.

 

[delsoul]

Steve Jobs wouldn’t be giving them a warm pat on the back. He would have demanded results or else. It’s time Tim toughens up and grows a spine, Apple is getting to the point it currently is because he refuses to do what’s necessary. The Siri team deserves all of the backlash currently in the news, but the Siri teams’ superiors also deserve the backlash. This includes Tim Cook. He really just needs to step down at this point since he’s proving he doesn’t have what it takes to steer the course. I believe it’s very important that people don’t let Apple and Tim get away with placing the blame on the Siri team. Overall, they’re just doing what they’re told. This falls most directly on Tim and the higher ups. Don’t ever forget that.

 

[klasma]

Basically, he is 100% confirming recent comments saying that Apple’s problems are caused by a lack of accountability

Actually, from the Bloomberg article:

Walker said that there is “intense personal accountability” about this effort shared by his boss John Giannandrea, the head of AI at Apple, as well as software chief Craig Federighi and other executives.

Whatever that means.

 

[macfacts]

Having never used an Android phone or tablet - how do they handle software/OS updates?

That's the "problem" there's more than one android manufacturer, if you don't want to do the research, stick with apple. "No one ever got fired for buying IBM", said all the MBA's from the 80s.(Then IBM sold their personal computer division to China).
Samsung releases feature updates often and security updates soon after Google. One plus releases security updates soon after Google.

 

[twolf2919]

It isn't the team - or even Walker - that should be feeling disappointed and embarrassed. It should be Tim Cook and the other executive leaders that allowed these non-existent features to be promoted as if they were nearly ready when, as Gruber pointed out, all they really had was a concept video - i.e. "bs". It's really unforgivable: they led customers to believe that if only they bought a new iPhone, they'd get these features. Now, it turns out, they would have been just fine with their old iPhones for another year or two - or whenever the heck these Siri features appear.

Before anyone points it out: yes, I know there are some AI features in iOS 18 - but they're really not the ones that got people excited - a for once useful Siri was.

 

[fantasyname_qwertz]

If you were on the original iPhone Team you are a legend for eternity, now matter how Little the cobtribution because it was a killer Product. But you will always be doomed for working on Apple Intelligence no matter how Hard you try, because the current leadership has no idea. Thats the real sad Story here.

 

[mxrider88]

Google Gemini: AI almost poisons its user

Google Gemini has given a dangerous recipe tip in the USA that could have endangered the life of a Reddit user.

basic-tutorials.com

If all you want is novelty, sure, Grok and Gemini exist.

I suspect Apple has other goals in mind.

I remain convinced that if Apple had just shipped a worthless chatbot with iOS 18, people would act like it was some sort of accomplishment rather than being pointless noise.

Try a pixel phone.

Image studio is unbelievable. No playgrounds there, just a very solid image generator.

The phone has built in scam detection for phone calls.

You can answer a phone call with a chatbot and interact with the caller with the UI without even answering.

Features work fine. The other day I sent a video via email using mail drop and the recipient got an email without attachment but a string saying something like <video.mov>. An absolute joke.

AirPods keep disconnecting and switching between car’s Bluetooth automatically without user prompts. Also, if you answer by clicking on the AirPod the call will play through the Bluetooth of the car, insanity.

CarPlay is lagging like crazy and stuttering when playing audio.


Apple fell off a cliff and they have the audacity to say other companies launched features that are not ready. This, this I find ridiculous.

 

[CarAnalogy]

If they believe that Siri is the world‘s greatest personal assistant, that’s part of the problem. Apple has not shipped good software in years.

It doesn’t sound like this is ever going to ship, let’s be honest. And that’s probably for the best because it will never work. The only part of Apple Intelligence that’s actually useful is the part that is outsourced to open AI.

This is the core problem with Siri and with everything Apple is clearly doing wrong right now. It’s all management. They can’t fix what they won’t acknowledge is broken.

They’ve become Google, with layers and layers of middle management and bureaucracy and a bean counter at the top.

 

[PhotonPandur]

Apple senior director Robby Walker acknowledged that employees might be feeling "angry, disappointed, burned out and embarrassed" following the Siri delay, but he praised the hard work of employees and the "incredibly impressive" features they developed, saying that Apple would continue to work to "ship the world's greatest virtual assistant" to Apple users.

It is Apple’s customers and shareholders that are feeling “angry and disappointed” about the Siri delay. Time for the stick and not carrot. At current state, Siri is the world’s worst major virtual assistant.

It’s the headline feature for all their latest hardware and they couldn’t even release the new Siri in beta form. They need to acknowledge this seriously in wwdc and can’t just skip and pretend all is well.

 

[klasma]

Apple now needs to find its Satya Nadella (a new visionary leader who has a vision for the company’s future and the ability to deliver it).

Classic Microsoft products have seen their worst en-****-tification under Nadella; not sure that we want the same for Apple.

 

[bob24]

I realize some people might wish for a Job-style rage-firing, but the fact that hasn't happened leads me to believe that perhaps the Siri team was always upfront about their progress but was overruled by marketing forces within the company. That or it's just not worth restructuring a team in the middle of a critical period of catch-up.

If it is the case, then fire the marketing team which deliberately advertised and promised to customers vapourware which they were clearly told couldn’t be delivered.

Diluting responsibility so that none is held accountable is part of the problem.

 

[AdamHarbour]

Public flogging in the Steve jobs theatre! Nothing less …..

 

[CarAnalogy]

Some of the comments here don’t take into account the human impact of working for Apple.

It seems that Apple puts huge pressure on the software teams to get features out of the door, to line up with new hardware releases.

This is due to the every year hardware refresh, meaning new software across a range of products, it’s unnecessary and only done as Apple maintains its profit margins.

Software from Apple has been poor for a long while, largely because the teams are not given the time needed to get it working in a way that meets quality control.

I feel for the teams that clearly wanted to get it working, even after they told Apple it might not be ready for the gravy train hardware refresh.

I too hope people understand where the blame truly lies. This is why all software is bad anymore unless made by one person or a very small team.

Corporate software is not made for the user, it’s made first and only to achieve corporate objectives. The programmers are literally not allowed to fix bugs and do things users want. They must do what management wants, and that’s to drive engagement and get flashy features out the door now now now.

 

[Etc_]

I think they made a bad business decision years ago, and now the consequences are starting to show. Apple bet everything on AR and VR, believing it would be the next big thing. They even said they spent over 10 years developing the Apple Vision Pro. But AR and VR are still a niche market, and VR in particular comes with significant accessibility issues, which is ironic for a company that has set positive examples in accessibility. Now, they are shifting completely in the other direction, focusing on AI instead.

 

[bob24]

Classic Microsoft products have seen their worst en-****-tification under Nadella; not sure that we want the same for Apple.

He built a strong cloud plateforme and ecosystem of online services, and obviously their business is going much better than under Balmer.

It is of course fine if you don’t like the products, but their corporate customers are clearly loving them (I work in IT architecture and the reliance on Microsoft in corporate IT infrastructures and applications is stronger than ever). This is what I’d call finding a new vision for the company and delivering it. I’m not saying the exact same vision would work for Apple which is a lot more consumer-oriented.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Sounds like it should’ve been a meeting with mass firings because their coders suck. It’s almost like Apple hires developers from EA to run their products now. Hire quality engineers —- that’s a bright idea.

 

[haragog]

Apple is reassuring employees on the Siri team who may be feeling demotivated by the recent Siri delays and the bad press surrounding the company's decisions, reports Bloomberg.

In a Siri team meeting, Apple senior director Robby Walker acknowledged that employees might be feeling "angry, disappointed, burned out and embarrassed" following the Siri delay, but he praised the hard work of employees and the "incredibly impressive" features they developed, saying that Apple would continue to work to "ship the world's greatest virtual assistant" to Apple users. "I saw so many people giving everything they had in order to make this happen and to make incredible progress together," he said.

The situation was described as "ugly" because the Siri features were shown off in public with marketing campaigns and TV commercials before there was a fully functional product. Siri's new functionality was also tied to the iPhone 16 launch in advertising, and it was a feature that Apple used to promote its iPhone 16 models.

Apple decided to delay the functionality because of quality issues, with Walker telling employees that Siri's new features were only working properly 60 to 80 percent of the time.

To encourage employees, Walker demonstrated Siri locating his driver's license number, manipulating apps by embedding content in an email and adding recipients, and finding specific photos of a child. Employees on the Siri team will be able to use time away to recharge and prepare for "hard work ahead."

Walker told employees that it is not yet clear when the new Siri features will be ready for launch, but Apple's statement about the delay mentioned "in the coming year." That has been interpreted as 2026, or in an update to the iOS 19 operating system launching this fall.

Walker said that Apple is aiming for iOS 19, but that the timeline "doesn't mean that we're shipping then." Apple will ship the Siri functions when they're ready to launch, and the company does not want to provide the public with unfinished features, even if "competitors might have launched them in this state or worse."

According to Bloomberg, Apple does not have plans to fire Siri chief John Giannandrea or any other Siri executives at this time, though there have been discussions about moving additional senior executives under Giannandrea to speed up development.

Article Link: Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay

This is just a saga now. No other modern company gets this much flack for something that just a few weeks ago everyone was saying they dont give 2 craps about… Its reminiscent of Star Wars vitriol/fanboyism now. Stop the novela. Go buy something else. I personally don’t see a point of the current iteration of Apple Unintelligence. SO WHAT? I dont use it. Simple. If it wasn’t for the fanboy noise I wouldn’t even think about it. Like it buy it, dont like sell it and dont buy it again. Overall, in my modest opinion, apple ecosystem is still light years ahead anything else for all the things that matter to me. Its not even a discussion (to me, which am quite informed btw).

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

Jobs often exaggerated and used superlatives profusely, but at least he delivered big time. The problem with today's Apple is they're trying to maintain Jobs' vocabulary and marketing without delivering as much, which only leads to disappointment and frustration.