John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

xander49x said:
Help me understand how Mr. Gruber making markdown have anything to do with being unprofessional and thinking he is all important. Mr. Gruber messed around and found out. I not saying not to criticize Apple ( they are not perfect ) but for me his criticism was overboard and what little attention I gave him is that much less.
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The original response was to someone saying Gruber has never done anything. It wasn't a response to justify Gruber's opinions or attitude.
 
Wow I have to say this is definitely a petty move by Apple. This is definitely one of those cases where old Apple would have done things differently. I think Jobs would have gone on the show and just faced the music. Admit that they screwed up and let people know how they are going to make Apple Intelligence better.

People understand that other people and companies make mistakes. This only serves to make things look worse.

Bad move on Apple part in my eyes
 
alchemistmuffin said:
It’s not just that. I’m hearing rumors that Gruber’s been banned from all future Apple events for foreseeable future after that article was published. If it’s true, then Apple wants to have nothing to do with Gruber going forward, and I feel this is going to damage Apple’s reputation further.
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Didn't you also say in another forum that Apple is moving to Canada?
 
Notice how replies are attacking Gruber and not the substance of the article he wrote, which was entirely true. Apple hates anything critical of them and people defend that. Apple hasn’t innovated in years and pointing out that they promised something and it hasn’t come to fruition at all isn’t “negative”. It’s effin true. Apple has become high on their own supply and refuse to move forward.
 
gh0stpr0t0c0lburner said:
No, many places still understand freedom of speech. Also it was vivid but obvious metaphor.

I really can't believe how many people here think it's about THAT.
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There’s nothing wrong with a CEO of a trillion dollar company congratulating the winner of the election of the country in which the company is located. Even “if” it was a metaphor, it was in poor taste and crass and whatever the actual reason Gruber was banned it was well deserved.
 
Rogue AI said:
Notice how replies are attacking Gruber and not the substance of the article he wrote, which was entirely true
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Which makes sense. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t disagree with Gruber’s criticism of Apple — they really dropped the ball. I just don’t enjoy his interviewing style, his recent political activism, and I definitely dislike how he handled the fact that they gave interviews to other writers this year.
 
contacos said:
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
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Read this post please: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...iew-after-his-criticism.2459284/post-33967681
It’s not about criticism, it’s about the tone.
If I respond to a post in the matter he did, I might get a suspension here.
 
Perhaps both. I can see why Apple would do this, but they kinda burnt themselves here with AI -- lack of transparency simply foments more criticism and doubt. John gets some PR -- Apple loses an opportunity to continue addressing this in a public forum. *shrug*
 
Boeingfan said:
That's quite an interesting state of play he's presenting. His 'wins and losses' language reveals that his approach to Apple is distinctly competitive.
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Did the 2025 live event generate more revenue and profit than the 2024 event? This is the only question that matters as to whether it had a negative or positive impact, at least in the near term.

One big winner for sure is MacRumors. Look at all these comments. The MacRumors audience seems to like gossip even more than rumors.
 
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zakarhino said:
Uhhh... what? Gruber implied that somewhere? I don't believe it frankly, you CANNOT make that sort of jibe against an openly gay CEO of a company. The same company which extends the courtesy of sending top execs to your hour long+ talk show every year.

Unbelievable, what a stupid thing to say. Again I don't believe he would be that grotesque, do you have a source or are you being hyperbolic?
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This is well documented. See John Gruber, I Wonder, Daring Fireball (Nov. 7, 2024).
 
jz0309 said:
Read this post please: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...iew-after-his-criticism.2459284/post-33967681
It’s not about criticism, it’s about the tone.
If I respond to a post in the matter he did, I might get a suspension here.
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Some small bunch of you keep trying to pretend this has nothing to do with Apple’s AI missteps and is instead all about a completely separate political post John made (“I Wonder”) about all the big tech CEOs (including Tim Cook) kissing Trump’s rimg and the colorful metaphor he used to illustrate it.

There is no evidence of this, it’s pure pearl-clutching speculation and nothing more.

There is, however, evidence it was about the AI overpromising article (“There is something rotten…”) as 99% already know. Gruber himself gives a rough summary of his interaction with Apple over their refusing to be interviewed in his opening to the Live Event they declined. He wryly disguises it as talking to his friend Moltz, but Moltz represents Apple there. He states that he discussed “There is something rotten…” specifically and they acknowledged while there was nothing factually inaccurate in it, they “wouldn’t be comfortable” discussing it live with Gruber.

So even Apple admits Gruber wasn’t wrong.

The only thing they’ve gone on to “correct” is to state the feature was working internally. John never said it 100% for sure wasn’t, but said we were all left to speculate that as the reason they never demoed it. Since they clarified that, Gruber responded in an article (“Apple’s spin…”) that he does believe them that there was some technically working prototype internally, so clearly he does believe things they say IF they say them. But, he goes on to note a) even his insiders who in theory should have seen it never did and b) either way it was and continues to be vaporware from the public’s point of view.

Those are the actual facts.
 
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mpe said:
I definitely dislike how he handled the fact that they gave interviews to other writers this year.
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All I’ve seen is him praise Stern’s interview? What specifically do you think he mishandled about other interviewers? Public perception is that outside of a last-minute addition of Stern interview, Apple only talked to softball Youtubers. Gruber hasn’t said much about them.
 
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alchemistmuffin said:
It’s not just that. I’m hearing rumors that Gruber’s been banned from all future Apple events for foreseeable future after that article was published. If it’s true, then Apple wants to have nothing to do with Gruber going forward, and I feel this is going to damage Apple’s reputation further.
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Most Apple customers care about the products. They don't watch podcasts about Apple hoping for some piping hot tea.
 
I don't think what Apple did is petty at all. Presumably they have a relationship with Gruber. And a good relationship with lots of communication. To just put out a post that skewers Apple feels a little like a friend of yours, who clearly knows you well and with whom you speak a lot, go and completely bad mouth you to others.
 
He had a fair criticism, but he made it personal, insinuating that Apple had intentionally deceived him.

Apple promised, then failed to deliver promised features (by over a year so far). They messed up bad. They were way too optimistic and underestimated the task. But to imply they intentionally deceived the public, and worse (in his eyes) him, rather than just messing up (as humans tend to do) crossed a line. And his clickbait overreaction blew up their relationship.

It's like if a longtime friend publicly roasted you and called you a fraud after one honest mistake, no benefit-of-the-doubt from a years-long relationship where you continually gave them first consideration.

Yeah, I'd ghost him too.
 
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gh0stpr0t0c0lburner said:
No, many places still understand freedom of speech. Also it was vivid but obvious metaphor.

I really can't believe how many people here think it's about THAT.
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You can believe in freedom of speech and say....hey that guy is off the deep end. We dont need to work with him.

That is all that is happening and every other company would do the same as someone else already said. I didnt know he had said his crude comments about Cook before someone pointed it out and thats the end of the story. It all makes sense. It's perfectly normal.
 
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