John Gruber Says 'Something is Rotten' at Apple

[WarmWinterHat]

You can’t hide $18b, the same way Apple can’t hide iPhone unit sales. But I want my life to be that I could get $18b for doing nothing.

Yup. We will see is right.

I don't think Apple is failing or collapsing or anything of the sort, but I do think the Google payola was unethical as hell...mostly how Apple hid it under services. It's no such thing. Either way, I don't base my purchases on how profitable a company is. While I am a shareholder, their share price has no effect on my choice of smartphones, nor does it for 95% of the purchasing public.

I'm generally happy with my iPhone. AI isn't my jam, nor an interest, so it never figured into my choices.

 

[JohannesO]

Apple is all about total control (of the user experience).

AI obviously works better if you give up control and don't give a damn about privacy.

That's not compatible.

 

[Joosst]

The root of the problem is, of course, shareholder capitalism. The need for infinite growth and keeping shareholders happy is making Apple do weird claims. I know that won't change anytime soon but the world would be a better place if Apple could just be a stable company without the need to constantly deliver better and better financial results. It's bonkers and it doesn't help customers.

 

[tenthousandthings]

They put that PM person in charge of Siri a month or 2 ago. What has been transpiring over the past couple weeks is the outcome of the work of that person, they have known about it for a while, hence the change back then.
Grubers “PhD knowledge of Apple” (that is his claim) should have highlighted this months ago, he’s just riding the wave now.

I am curious to know who you mean...?

I believe this is a reference to Kim Vorrath, see this story:

Apple Brings in New Exec to 'Fix' Siri and Apple Intelligence

Apple is making an internal staffing change that it hopes will improve Siri and its artificial intelligence offerings, reports Bloomberg. Kim...

www.macrumors.com

So it’s possible the meeting Gruber says Apple needs to have has already taken place, ~ two months ago.

I think his stance here is largely just trying to warn Apple that a lot is at stake at WWDC 2025. Whatever they do, at this stage it should be a true demo and not a concept. I think he’s saying that they will need show progress, if they can, on the privacy-driven features, and perhaps even explain why it’s going to take longer than expected. To show that the features touted in the ad and at WWDC 2024 are not vaporware.

 

[UltimaKilo]

They said the same thing about Siri. It’s no better today than it was on my 4S.

Exactly. I have zero faith in Siri’s immediate or even medium term future. Quite frankly, I have not been impressed by any virtual assistant, they’re all crap. And of that entire heap of crap, Siri is the worst.

 

[delsoul]

AI was oversold in general. It's like the self-driving car. It's not just apple.

Well, I don’t know about the self-driving car part. I just did an hour and fifteen minutes drive the other day fully on self-driving. City, freeway, mountain roads to the ocean. Didn’t touch the controls or steering wheel once. Even parked itself at arrival -shrugs-

 

[turbineseaplane]

Apple is all about total control (of the user experience).

AI obviously works better if you give up control and don't give a damn about privacy.

That's not compatible.

Agreed

Apples “just the tip” strategy won’t work

You’re either doing it or you’re not

 

[quietstormSD]

Bro is acting like they all of the sudden realizing this? Even in 2024, they had credibility around Siri? Come on. Late to the party. You'll get your clicks I guess.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Bro is acting like they all of the sudden realizing this? Even in 2024, they had credibility around Siri? Come on. Late to the party. You'll get your clicks I guess.

I give him a pass.

He has readers who need to hear this so I’m glad he said it even if it’s late

 

[Rogifan]

For everyone saying bring back Scott Forstall, this is an interesting podcast with a personal anecdote from Ben Thompson who was an intern at Apple in 2010 and got to meet many Apple leaders, including Forstall. Ben says his recollection from the Forstall meeting is he was the most arrogant SOB he’s ever met in his life.

Sharp Tech

Sharp Tech - How technology works, and the ways it is impacting the world

sharptech.fm

 

[TMail]

Cook now Gil Amelio to Ive's Steve Jobs. Best to bring Jony back on stage as the new iCEO with AI responsibilities at WWDC. Ive's role can eclipse Cook who fades into the sunset...he is nearing retirement anyway. Get rid of Schiller.

 

[gleepskip]

Ben says his recollection from the Forstall meeting is he was the most arrogant SOB he’s ever met in his life.

IOW, Forstall has a personality and convictions unlike the current stuffy lot. Even Federighi's persona is an act.

 

[tenthousandthings]

I acknowledge what you're saying, I'm just coming from the place where people are frustrated about an issue like this, which isn't small, and definitely tells a story about Apple's over promising and under delivering. But then they say the whole thing stinks and Apple is horrible and Tim Cook is a disaster and innovation is dead, when there have been some staggering advancements under his leadership. Jobs made big mistakes too, MobileMe, Maps, the iPhone 4 cell reception, crappy drives in the first gen of MBAs, other first gen release teething issues.

I say go back to the 18-24 month release cycle of OS's, every year is an insane request of a development team to pull off.

I’m with you on the last point. I think it’s arguably the root problem.

 

[jz0309]

I believe this is a reference to Kim Vorrath, see this story:

Apple Brings in New Exec to 'Fix' Siri and Apple Intelligence

Apple is making an internal staffing change that it hopes will improve Siri and its artificial intelligence offerings, reports Bloomberg. Kim...

www.macrumors.com

So it’s possible the meeting Gruber says Apple needs to have has already taken place, ~ two months ago.

I think his stance here is largely just trying to warn Apple that a lot is at stake at WWDC 2025. Whatever they do, at this stage it should be a true demo and not a concept. I think he’s saying that they will need show progress, if they can, on the privacy-driven features, and perhaps even explain why it’s going to take longer than expected. To show that the features touted in the ad and at WWDC 2024 are not vaporware.

yes, this is the person I was referring to ...
Apple recognized back in January that there was/is an issue and addressed it with the personnel change.
Apple isn't stupid, they know what's at stake.

And I think we will see a different approach at WWDC 2025.

 

[netsped]

I bet someone must pass all of his or her days in a dark office feeling very sorry to have approved the name Apple Intelligence, not very intelligent of their part.

Not having it working in multiple languages from the beginning was a preview of what was coming.

It's a joke, and don't get me started with that hideous new iPhone design rumors are suggesting.

 

[reasonablewolf]

Daring Fireball's John Gruber today shared some strongly-worded comments about Apple's delayed personalized Siri features. Gruber is a well-known Apple pundit who has been writing about the company for more than two decades.

In a blog post titled "Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino," Gruber said Apple's credibility has been "damaged" by the delay:This obviously isn't the first time that Apple has failed to deliver. However, Gruber said other examples like the canceled AirPower charging mat "tended to be around the edges," whereas he believes that generative AI is going to be "big" and "important."

It's not the delay by itself that bothers Gruber. He said the true "fiasco" here is that Apple "pitched a story" last year "that wasn't true":Gruber said the personalized Siri features announced during the WWDC keynote last year were merely conceptual, and therefore "********":He was even more explicit here:Gruber said Apple's repeated unwillingness or inability to demo the personalized Siri features in action since WWDC last year "should have set off blinding red flashing lights and deafening klaxon alarms" in his head that something was wrong.

Gruber went as far as saying that Apple's culture of excellence could be at risk if this situation is not handled correctly within the company:The full post is worth a read.

Article Link: John Gruber Says 'Something is Rotten' at Apple

When I began testing iOS 18 last June, I had anticipated the release of all those exciting features in September. However, when September arrived, and I discovered that they wouldn’t be available until March, I was disappointed. When March finally came, and it was revealed that the features wouldn’t be released until iOS 19 or even iOS 20, I decided to switch back to Android after 11 years of loyalty to Apple. I’ve owned every iPhone since the iPhone 4S.

 

[Chungry]

For everyone saying bring back Scott Forstall, this is an interesting podcast with a personal anecdote from Ben Thompson who was an intern at Apple in 2010 and got to meet many Apple leaders, including Forstall. Ben says his recollection from the Forstall meeting is he was the most arrogant SOB he’s ever met in his life.

Sharp Tech

Sharp Tech - How technology works, and the ways it is impacting the world

sharptech.fm

So sort of like a Steve if you will. Steve was very sure of what he knew. And I think Apple has been lacking of a strong leader that can say no, or, that sucks start over.

 

[carrrrrlos]

“mediocrity, excuses, and ********” also know as Board of Directors sleeping.

 

[Chungry]

When I began testing iOS 18 last June, I had anticipated the release of all those exciting features in September. However, when September arrived, and I discovered that they wouldn’t be available until March, I was disappointed. When March finally came, and it was revealed that the features wouldn’t be released until iOS 19 or even iOS 20, I decided to switch back to Android after 11 years of loyalty to Apple. I’ve owned every iPhone since the iPhone 4S.

We're on a similar trajectory, I've had Macs since the old Mac OS days pre OS X, and every iPhone up to the 16 PM. All this pushed me over to an S25 Ultra and it's a breath of fresh air. I'm ashamed to say I have a vision pro and kept it past the return window. It's a glorified immersive studio display. It works for PWAs I guess. Which is great because the app store is dead.

 

[doc james]

I say go back to the 18-24 month release cycle of OS's, every year is an insane request of a development team to pull off.

They effectively have. Don't quote me but hasn't every release since iOS 14(?) taken at least 12 months to deliver the features displayed at the preceding WWDC. And some things have never appeared at all. Previously everything arrived on day 1 (followed by 11 months of bug fixes...) It is increasingly difficult to buy "for the features it has, not the promise of what it might have". ESPECIALLY with iPhone 16 which comes "with Apple Intelligence" Asterix, dagger, double dagger as someone is prone to saying...

 

[VisceralRealist]

All I know is: WWDC is going to be interesting this year. 🤔 Wish they would do it in person this time.

 

[Chungry]

All I know is: WWDC is going to be interesting this year. 🤔 Wish they would do it in person this time.

Heh. Think they are afraid of the crowd reacting with anything other than applause and delight? I think they learned their lesson when folks laughed at the XDR stand price.

 

[smulji]

My fear is that Apple realized that the current A series chips are barely able to run the new siri. So they take a year more, scrap it from the 15 Pro and only reserve it to the 16 Pro and subsequent models.

Apple will rightfully get roasted if they do this.

 

[Fraserpatty]

It is not Tim that needs to go, it is Craig Federighi. He is the one in charge of software.

Actually, I think it is John G. that needs to go. I will be very reluctant to see Craig go because he is so firmly a part of Apple but reluctantly I’m saying you could be right about him too. But I’ve seen no advance since John G joined.

 

[AndiG]

I'm generally happy with my iPhone. AI isn't my jam, nor an interest, so it never figured into my choices.

I think you‘re one of those guys, who doesn‘t understand the impact of AI. The whole world is turning into the direction of Agentic AI, Agents, physical AI (Buzzword mania).
The point is, if you are not capable of this stuff as a software company like Apple - you‘re dead. Simple as that. And of course it will completely change that way we interact with our smartphone. With AI you get the power of a software development team as a user.
Lets say, you want a software that blocks you calendar for your holiday and adds default email messages to all you accounts. You needed to do everything manually, get your secretary to do the job our hire a software team to build a new App.
With AI it is more like „Hey phone, I‘m on holiday from … to …“ and it is done.

You don‘t have to open an App to control your vaccum cleaner robot, you just tell you phone it should start it - maybe with some details „please clean the livingroom“. An App is no longer needed, an App approval process is no longer needed, and so on.