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.
In what profession would that be unprofessional? Boot licking?Being praised by Nilay Patel is not something to be proud of.
Goober can cope however he wants, but Apple was right to cut him off after he acted so unprofessionally.
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!!!Agree with Gruber here. Apple doesn’t like it when they’re fairly criticized for over-promising and massively under-delivering.
I agree with John here. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of Apple as being particularly petty, but I definitely do in this case.
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.I miss the live events. I want them to still have staged events for iPhone/iPad/Mac because I think the production is really good and it’s quite impressive that they’re shooting all this on iPhones these days.
But for WWDC at least, I miss the on stage events with the audience reactions and live demos.
Ok Gruber, whatever, but now that bridge is burnt down for good
Siri is just trash, and died long time ago to me. Apple should delete it and start anew.This goes back much further though. Siri has sucked from day one and barely improved after. Promising that after all these years of barely functioning, now AI is going to finally make Siri useful and then not delivering on that promise again does seem to point at some rather fundamental problems
Again, not entirely true. They used to do live keynotes, and they definitely did not control the audience.Apple doesn't walk into a room where it doesn't control the narrative. Ever.
How did he act unprofessionally? Because he criticized Apple for false promises? 🤔Being praised by Nilay Patel is not something to be proud of.
Goober can cope however he wants, but Apple was right to cut him off after he acted so unprofessionally.
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.People should not be buying on the promise of future features. Things change fast in tech and they would most likely have been sued if they released a flawed product.
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.I agree with John here. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of Apple as being particularly petty, but I definitely do in this case.
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.
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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.How did he act unprofessionally? Because he criticized Apple for false promises? 🤔
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.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.
This event he's hosting is at WWDC.He did get the other press demos and so on at WWDC, so they haven’t completely wiped him.
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.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.
I agree with John here. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of Apple as being particularly petty, but I definitely do in this case.
Did it control the narrative with Joanna Stern?Apple doesn't walk into a room where it doesn't control the narrative. Ever.
I agree he’s been the biggest fanboy until recently, but in fact he invented Markdown.The only reason anyone knows who tf he is, is that he has made milking Apple his entire identity. He hasn’t created anything that I’m aware of.