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WWDC 2025 Likely 'Smaller-Scale' Than Past Two WWDCs, Here's Why
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Those were the days. Though I'm glad Apple got rid of the horizontal light gray lines running through menu and title bars--it looked like an attempt to emulate tweed from the 19th century.
They’ll probably call it WWDC 27 to be consistent with showcasing iOS 27, iPadOS 27 etc etc 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
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My interpretation of Gruber's statements is that WWDC 2025 won't include announcements of any new hardware categories, or even big changes to existing hardware, but that this doesn't preclude announcements of significant incremental improvements to some hardware, like maybe the Studio Display, which I single out since that's the one I most want to see improved, though there are others.
No, it's not.
Different platforms have different modalities of interaction. By your logic, Apple would be justified in modeling the macOS interface after watchOS. Does anyone think that's a good idea? No, that would be insane. Forcing all platforms to follow the same UI rules is an awful, awful idea.
Yep. I remember when the public, not just developers, got their first look at Aqua, there was a pretty mixed reaction. As time went on, most people came to like it and even considered it the only "proper" approach to a UI, to the point when it was replaced with a flat interface, a lot of people (most?) didn't like the change.Design revamps are never well received, even Aqua wasn’t received very well.
“One of my strongest early developer memories was being in the “UI Feedback Forum” at WWDC after they introduced Aqua. Think of a live Q&A, but developers giving notes to a team of Apple engineers.Cabel Sasser (@cabel@panic.com)
One of my strongest early developer memories was being in the “UI Feedback Forum” at WWDC after they introduced Aqua. Think of a live Q&A, but developers giving notes to a team of Apple engineers. To these veteran Mac coders, the reaction to Aqua was universally negative. People were actively...social.panic.com
To these veteran Mac coders, the reaction to Aqua was universally negative. People were actively very angry. It’s a waste! It’s ugly! It’s confusing! How could you. It went on and on, and I was surprised because Aqua looked cool and fun to me.
After that WWDC, they never did another Feedback Forum.”
For the record, this was the same Aqua introduced by Steve Jobs, the same one he said that made people want to “lick it”.
The same Aqua people say was universally well received, and Jobs would’ve never changed.
When the design got way more smooth than leopard, that was also criticized.
When the calendar became leather and things became a lot more like iOS, it wasn’t well received.
When they flattened everything down for Yosemite, it wasn’t well received.
People just fundamentally hate change, of any kind. Which is why Apple is always so hesitant to make any changes.
You can see Steve's energy level drop when he learn that the interviewer doesn't even know what toner is, and realizes he is talking to a brick wall as he abruptly finishes his thoughts ".. anyway, that's ancient history." lol
My understanding (or assumption) has been that the AI-handled verbal input method wouldn't replace visual/manual input, but rather would be available if you want to use it, and that there would also be a combination of the two, in which you're looking at screens with info displayed in the traditional manner, with the elements you describe (checkboxes, buttons, photos, text info like prices for the photos, etc.), with which you could interact verbally if you chose, telling the interface what you want to do with the info that's displayed, while also allowing you to manually select some of the checkboxes, enter data into some of the fields, etc. You could ask the AI to do some of that for you, and you could also seamlessly do some of it yourself manually.The first one, I can see it, and it’s feasible. However, the problem (and this is the case with many other tasks) is that usually I want to add just some of them, avoid duplicated ones, exclude receipt photos, etc. And sure, you could potentially also do it with a prompt, but there’s a point where a visual UI is faster and provides better feedback.
The second one sounds a bit more complicated (not even possible with that promised rabbit AI agent), but I’ll focus on the third one. The Amazon return process is relatively straightforward, but it has some steps that are better presented in a visual way. Like “do you want to add more items?”: it’s much easier if I see those previous purchases, together with some photos, and I can quickly select some checkboxes, instead of having to do it via a chatbot interface. Same with return options: I can quickly see the cost of each option on the left side, and the total amount on the right side. I can also see a map with drop-off locations, etc.
So my point is that, even if everything worked well all the time when it comes to processing intents (which is a big IF), the complexity of those processes is usually better handled with a visual UI than with a chatbot.
Well, the new UI is what they've got ready for release at the moment. The AI comes later.
It's hard to tell if the interviewer really didn't know what toner is/was, or whether he wanted Jobs to clarify what he meant by "toner head", but if he really didn't know what toner is, that would be surprising given that toner was a big deal back then, and was for years. I remember doing a lot of toner cartridge refills before inkjet printers became more common.
One feature I've been wishing the iPhone had recently is an OS-level (not sure if a third party app could get the permissions) notification filter. It seems like this is something an LLM or other NLP model could possibly be trusted with.
The use case would be for apps like Instacart, Uber Eats, etc., who don't let you toggle notification types well and abuse their permission to notify you for things you need to know (like your food has arrived) to include notifications that are intended to remind you of their service or serve their needs (2 hours after your delivery they say thanks for using our service and ask for a survey).
The notification filter could simply overrule all of that BS by allowing you to set rules on what can and cannot be included across a variety of dimensions - by app, by keyword, by time of day, default to allow if unsure, etc. The LLM would interpret the notification text and apply the filter rules to either allow or deny the notification.
It seems like, if any company were to do this, Apple could have the clout and weight to do it. It would undoubtedly piss a lot of developers off, but so do their massive App Store cuts, privacy features, etc., so it seems no more pro-user/anti-developer than many of the things they do already.
Basically - your phone, and your finite attention span, should serve your needs or the purpose you define, not the needs of some product manager somewhere.
The use case would be for apps like Instacart, Uber Eats, etc., who don't let you toggle notification types well and abuse their permission to notify you for things you need to know (like your food has arrived) to include notifications that are intended to remind you of their service or serve their needs (2 hours after your delivery they say thanks for using our service and ask for a survey).
The notification filter could simply overrule all of that BS by allowing you to set rules on what can and cannot be included across a variety of dimensions - by app, by keyword, by time of day, default to allow if unsure, etc. The LLM would interpret the notification text and apply the filter rules to either allow or deny the notification.
It seems like, if any company were to do this, Apple could have the clout and weight to do it. It would undoubtedly piss a lot of developers off, but so do their massive App Store cuts, privacy features, etc., so it seems no more pro-user/anti-developer than many of the things they do already.
Basically - your phone, and your finite attention span, should serve your needs or the purpose you define, not the needs of some product manager somewhere.
I'm from that era; all we had was toner. He further clarified "the black stuff" to simplify it for the interviewer.
LOL I forgot the absurdity of the 2023 WWDC seeing that woman with the ski goggles on her face and Tim proclaiming the era of “spatial computing”. To say it was awkward would be an understatement. AVP never moved on from being an expensive novelty item.
2024 was boring because they spent so much time detailing the intricacies of Apple Intelligence that we later learned wasn’t ready at all. Half of the features they showcased haven’t even been released a year later.
2024 was boring because they spent so much time detailing the intricacies of Apple Intelligence that we later learned wasn’t ready at all. Half of the features they showcased haven’t even been released a year later.
