John Gruber, a prominent voice in the Apple commentary scene, is typically known for his positive outlook on the company. Therefore, his recent scathing criticism of the tech giant comes as quite a shock.
Gruber specifically calls out Apple’s promotion of Siri functionalities that are yet to materialize, claiming the company is “in disarray, if not crisis.” He labels their assertions as “bullshit” and states that they have “wasted” their reputation through “a fiasco.”
Summary of the Situation
Recently, Apple acknowledged that the introduction of three new Siri features would take “longer than we anticipated,” without providing further detail or a new timeline. These features are intended to enhance Siri’s capabilities significantly:
- Personal context (like understanding inquiries such as “What time does my mom’s flight land?”)
- On-screen functionality (such as “Add this address to her contact card”)
- In-app actions (for instance, “Enhance this photo, and save it to my Miami 2025 notes”)
Additionally, the company discreetly removed an advertisement for the iPhone 16 that highlighted these features.
Despite this, Apple continues to promote these functionalities on its website, although with modified disclaimers.
Gruber’s Critique
Gruber asserts that a product’s validity can be categorized on a four-tier scale:
- Demonstrated, but not available for public testing
- Media demos under tightly controlled conditions
- Beta versions accessible to the public
- Released features
According to him, anything below this framework—including concept videos of features that cannot be reliably showcased—is simply nonsense. And he believes this is where Apple stands with the aforementioned Siri features.
No demonstrations were given for any of these features. They were all rated a level 0 on my scale, known as vaporware. These were features that Apple claimed would be available within the coming year, demonstrated through the impactful “Siri, when is my mom’s flight landing?” portion during the WWDC keynote around the 1h:22m mark. Apple could neither show these features in action back in June nor did they have their product marketing representatives perform scripts on prepared devices for demonstration purposes […]
What Apple exhibited regarding the future “personalized Siri” at WWDC was not an actual demo. It was a concept video. Concept videos are misleading and indicative of a company in turmoil, if not crisis.
Gruber contends that had there been any functional existence of these features, the announcement of delays would have been an optimal moment to showcase their current progress to tech journalists, demonstrating what was operational and what still needed work.
That did not occur. If these features exist in any effective state, no external party has confirmed their existence, let alone their quality […]
The real issue is that Apple promoted a narrative that was misleading—a narrative that some employees within the company likely realized was not accurate, yet they proceeded regardless.
Gruber notes that while many companies make dubious claims about their AI offerings, he never anticipated Apple would join their ranks. He points out that although there have been missteps, like with AirPower, Apple’s previous reputation for integrity was generally reliable. But now, things have changed.
However, their credibility is significantly harmed […] Damaged might be too gentle a term; it has been squandered.
He emphasizes that if CEO Tim Cook hasn’t done what Steve Jobs would do when faced with failures—responding decisively to either drive the team to find solutions or abandon the project—the company is heading toward trouble.
Tim Cook should have convened a meeting to address and resolve the Siri and Apple Intelligence crisis. If such a meeting hasn’t taken place or doesn’t occur shortly, then I fear the situation is dire. Once mediocrity, excuses, and deception take root, they dominate. A culture that values excellence, accountability, and integrity can’t survive the acceptance of such flaws, and it will implode under the weight of those compromises.
DMN’s Perspective
Gruber has never been an uncritical advocate for Apple; he has expressed his share of critiques in the past. Still, he maintains a close rapport with the company and occasionally serves as a sounding board for its messages. Thus, when Gruber makes this kind of harsh critique, it carries weight.
While I aim to maintain an unbiased stance towards Apple, recognizing both its merits and shortcomings, my patience with Siri is waning.
It’s quite remarkable that in 14 years, Apple has shifted from being a pioneer in intelligent assistants to lagging significantly behind. We moved from the futuristic Siri introduced in 2011 to what feels like a subpar Apple Intelligence in 2025 […]
In 2015, I outlined the future capabilities I hoped to see, including app interaction features. It has taken an entire decade for Apple to even start addressing this need! Even more surprising is the fact that I created a list in 2018 of basic functions Siri couldn’t perform, and several of those features remain absent today!
While I don’t fully agree with Gruber’s assertion that Apple has irreparably damaged its reputation, it’s undeniable that their credibility has indeed suffered significantly. And yes, producing a promotional video for a product that is currently non-existent was definitely a misstep.
