Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber published an article titled “Something is Rotten in Cupertino,” in which he harshly commented on Apple’s decision to significantly delay the release of its updated Siri voice assistant with expanded personalization and AI features. The expert is sure that the company has undermined its credibility.
Image source: apple.com
«Presentation after presentation, product after product, feature after feature, year after year, and in a year, Apple has gone from a company whose solvency was generally unbelievable to, by far, the most reliable company in tech. Apple is still not at risk of financial bankruptcy (and, in fact, remains the most profitable company in the world). But now its credibility is undermined. A career may not be enough to get Apple back to the “if they say so, you can trust them” level that the company earned by early June 2024,” the journalist wrote.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Apple has failed to deliver on its commitments. But the two aren’t comparable: the never-released AirPower wireless charging mat was a cutting-edge product, and generative AI is a hot topic today. Gruber took aim at Apple not because of the delay, but because the company deliberately misinformed consumers: last year, it “told a story that wasn’t true.” The Siri personalization features Apple unveiled at WWDC last year were a concept, or simply bullshit. “It was a concept video. A concept video is bullshit and a sign that a company is in chaos, if not crisis,” John Gruber said.
The company let this happen, and Apple’s culture of excellence could be at risk if it’s not handled properly internally. “Tim Cook should have held a meeting by now to examine and fix this Siri and Apple Intelligence failure. If that meeting hasn’t happened or isn’t happening anytime soon, I’m afraid they haven’t written anything else. They’ve arrived. When mediocrity, excuses, and bullshit take hold, they take over. A culture of excellence, accountability, and integrity cannot coexist with any of these qualities, and will quickly collapse on itself if all three are released,” the expert warned.