Apple does a lot to look bad lately. They don’t even notice they once were the underdog but now are the bully. If they don’t change it won’t end well for them.
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John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism
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In what profession would that be unprofessional? Boot licking?
This may, for good reason or bad, be why some people purchased the latest and greatest iPhone! If you're promising something to the consumer and it ONLY applies to the next iteration of a product you better deliver!!!
meh, he's completely missing the point....yet again.
15 years ago or so, I liked reading his blogs, but his ego seemed to take over. Also, I once had a discussion on X and he started fiercely defending the imperial system for whatever reason.
I'm surprised he's getting so much oxygen, but on the other hand, people love sensation in the media.
15 years ago or so, I liked reading his blogs, but his ego seemed to take over. Also, I once had a discussion on X and he started fiercely defending the imperial system for whatever reason.
I'm surprised he's getting so much oxygen, but on the other hand, people love sensation in the media.
Wait what? Apple is not petty?
At least after the Steve Job era, this new Apple is as petty as It gets. They practically laughed and customers faces regarding a iMac 27 inch replacement, and how about those ram charges to this day?
Yes we all love the processors and there is still a ton of good and apple hardware. But it's surrounded by a paranoia been overlord control structure of a company.
And it shows in the type of AI they were trying to develop that has always sound laughable. It has to be a Disney clean level AI that only does things that Apple wants it to do. And also shows that they couldn't get the plan right. I was never sure where the excitement for Apple AI even came from besides investors, because every description of what they were trying to do sounded like trash.
Ultimately, apples and ability to play well with others and also run rip shot over their own customers in terms of pricing, I would say they're as petty as all get out. Imho.
I miss those too. And I suspect Apple doesn’t, but they should. It projects an aura of fear, insecurity and, ultimately, arrogance. Fear from literal failure onstage, fear from bad or otherwise muted reactions from the audience to big announcements, whole products, specific features and price points, etc. And guess what, we’ve seen those before in live events, and the Apple of yore still had the courage to go that route, year after year. They’re also arrogant in thinking that their customers are actually like the stereotype they’re oh so often branded with, i.e. that we care more about style than substance. WRONG! Of course Apple products should be elegant, but they must, first and foremost, just work, and their presentation in events should at least show that, and their public versions should match the demos as much and as quick as humanly possible.
People used to call or at least think SJ was an arrogant prick; maybe he indeed was one towards some fellow Apple employees, sure, and he did come up with the whole “you’re holding it wrong” thing, but heck, he did get how the social contract between Apple and its end customers, and also the developers, worked. There is something rotten in the kingdom of Cupertino, and if you look at the big picture and listen to public sentiment, especially in the developer community, you’ll notice it.
And yes, I know, Apple Silicon was a huge achievement (still likely SJ’s doing, I’m pretty sure this latest transition was discussed and planned, if not outright decided, a decade in advance, with Intel being an inevitable stopgap measure while they regrouped after the PowerBook G5 and console-first development fiasco), but the fact of the matter is that, yes, their software has been a buggy, incoherent mess lately. I know what I’m talking about, I’ve used Windows exclusively for seven years when I was a kid and teen, and used macOS for more than 20 in my adult life, since the Jaguar days, I can definitely see the big picture and I’m getting ugly flashbacks from the Microsoft of the late 90’s. Gruber is definitely getting those flashbacks, too, and also from the Apple of the early 1990s, an unmitigated mess which he knew all too well.
It’s also interesting to note that Gruber started writing Daring Fireball around the time when SJ took the reins back, and that he’s now more focused – rightly so, if I may add – on domestic politics. Apple has become boring and, yes, sadly anchored to the current events for reasons I don’t have to elaborate on. I suspect any other company in any other similar period of history would, too, but a lot of it is still Apple’s own doing. And for all the accusations of unfairness towards Apple levied against Gruber, you seem to forget he won’t give the European Commission or the UK authorities a pass when they overreach against the same Apple he so harshly – but justly – critiques, either (maybe it’s just us, Europeans, who care about all that crap?). That’s what I like about him, his customer- and developer-first critique, from an idealized, SJ-esque philosophy POV.
TL;DR: I though I’d never see the day when so many fellow MR users would match the fanboi description to a tee. It’s not just Apple that went astray, many of us did, too! Do yourselves a favour and go watch a couple of Stevenotes. You’ll instantly get where Gruber, and other former Apple fans and now harsh critics, are coming from. You’ll get it.
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I mean, what does it say about a company and its culture if any form of criticism is off-limits? Not everyone is here to be a cheerleader. If honest critique isn’t welcome, then we’re not far from the death of real journalism. Not everyone can be an a$$ kisser like iJustine
I don’t disagree with Apple… He’s right, he’s independent… He’s not a big media corporation, with insane reach that Apple needs to deal with.
You aren’t going to overly bash my products, leadership, air dirty laundry, and then think you are getting an exclusive interview 60 days later….
You aren’t going to overly bash my products, leadership, air dirty laundry, and then think you are getting an exclusive interview 60 days later….
Those couple of comments from John were unnecessary and probably seal the deal that he will never have those executives back on.
If the decision was better for you and worse for them, it should be obvious to everyone. Do you have to actually say it out loud?
If the decision was better for you and worse for them, it should be obvious to everyone. Do you have to actually say it out loud?
Siri is just trash, and died long time ago to me. Apple should delete it and start anew.
Some things aren't repairable, simple as that.
But Apple keep protecting Siri - so I wonder about Apple's projections into that matter.
I'm waiting for what Joni, Powel-Jobs & the OpenAi guy are cooking.
I've never read or listened to Gruber, don't care about Apple AI, and I didn't read this article by him....but, it's pretty simple. You rip a company that is already playing damage control and they, more-or-less, cut you off. That is what happens. It's not unique and it's not new, but it is petty...and Apple, these days, the petty as hell.
Not saying he should do any different. More reporters, and sites, should be giving them the business.
Not saying he should do any different. More reporters, and sites, should be giving them the business.
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Again, not entirely true. They used to do live keynotes, and they definitely did not control the audience.
How did he act unprofessionally? Because he criticized Apple for false promises? 🤔
They released actual commercials on television highlighting the non-existent features. This is beyond promise, and more like an outright lie. They will be sued and will lose another class action.
Apple not petty? 'Say the wrong journalism and Apple will no longer invite you' has been an unwritten rule since forever. It's why Apple courts legacy press, they lay up softballs. Gruber has been around for a long time, but it's a new era now, some new rules Apple. There's a lot of competition, a lot of eyeballs—one of the reasons Apple couldn't gatekeep their shittty keyboard story. A big tech reviewer can readily sink a fledgling car company, if their launch product is bad, or not ready for market. The good and the bad of a "more free" press. Probably more good than bad all things considered.
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Talk about denial. 😂
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss Apple Intelligence and more.
Apple's response to Gruber's interview request (basically)
That decade-long tradition abruptly came to an end last month, when Apple declined Gruber's invitation to speak for this year's special episode.
A few months prior to that, Gruber published a blog post that was heavily critical of Apple. In that piece, the well-known Apple pundit said that the company "pitched a story that wasn't true" at WWDC 2024, when it previewed a more personalized Siri that was not close to being ready and is now delayed. He said that the situation damaged Apple's credibility, and he expressed concern that it could be a sign of bigger problems inside the company.
Unsurprisingly, Apple did not like the commentary.
In the latest episode of the Channels podcast, Gruber told Business Insider's Peter Kafka that Apple was "not happy" about the blog post and felt it was unfair.
However, Gruber said Apple's absence was actually a net positive for him.
"I'm not trying to lack humility here — but I feel them deciding not to do my show this year is a total win for me and was a huge loss for them," he said.
Why does he believe that?
"I think it asserts my independence," he argued. "And I think more than making me look good, I think it makes them look bad."
For his WWDC 2025 episode, Gruber ended up interviewing The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and The Verge's Nilay Patel.
Article Link: John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism
I mean, he's calling him names like "Gooper", clearly a philosopher.
I would more describe more as a risky move for Apple than a lie, given they set a deadline and realised quality wise it was not possible. They aren't just a random company and typically won't just lie about something this big. I reckon as they expanded testing to more users there were so many unforeseen pitfalls they realised as bad press as not releasing would be, releasing would be even worse. As for class actions, they are a scam with users getting pennies on the dollar and the only real beneficiaries, the lawyers.
Apple had a lot of super interesting stuff to announce every year in the past which made the events interesting and engaging. Now they use a lot of tools (graphics, animations, childish showing off by Frederighi, etc.) to mask the poor content. I try to image this year's announcements presented in real-time during show on stage ... that'd be quite boring I suppose.
Well Apple is a corporation, it’s not a government, they don’t owe the “other side” a voice. And the stakes in commerce are a little lower… “number go down” is a bigger driver than most of the multidirectional ‘polarized’ pressures felt by government.
And to the underlying story it is pretty common for Apple (and other companies) to make statements that didn’t quite shake out… so that’s not new (and I don’t really mind). What is new is perhaps Apple is actually working on bring those announced AI features and not entirely killing them.
I agree he’s been the biggest fanboy until recently, but in fact he invented Markdown.
And while he has historically tilted toward positivity in his Apple coverage, his arguments are always fairly deeply thought through.