Apple is on defense at WWDC
It's early June and the vibes are decidedly off in Cupertino.
The hype leading up to Apple's last two developer conferences felt much different. There was anticipation in 2023 for a potentially groundbreaking new headset. In 2024, there was a sense of urgency leading up to the company's AI announcements and whispers that Siri might actually, finally be good at something. But 2025?
Well, things are different.
The Vision Pro was the big announcement at that 2023 show, and it's, uh, still around. Apple has reportedly cut production due to slow sales, and you can get one at a steep discount on eBay. Maybe the price is wrong. And the big AI announcement last year? How's that going? As it stands, Apple Intelligence is stalled out. The features that Apple managed to deploy are underwhelming, and the meaty update to Siri has been delayed — maybe even for years. It sounds like the whole thing was a real fiasco inside Apple, and publicly, the company took down an ad showcasing Siri features that simply don't exist yet. Ouch.
And then there's the legal stuff. In 2021, a court in California ordered Apple to let developers add links allowing customers to make purchases outside of their apps. The company was also supposed to come up with a rationale for whatever commission it decided to take on those purchases.
Apple's subsequent compliance with this order was so poor that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers got fed up and blocked the company from taking any fees on those purchases and recommended the case for criminal contempt proceedings — all detailed in a seething 80-page decision. Meanwhile, in the EU, regulators have fined Apple for practices that fail to comply with the DMA's antitrust rules, Fortnite is back in the App Store, and oh yeah, President Donald Trump keeps waving tariffs around in Tim Cook's face with a cockamamie plan to convince him to build iPhones in the US.
What's a beleaguered tech CEO to do in times like these? Here's what I'd like to see at WWDC: Apple showing a little humility. I do not want to see a two-minute Hollywood production of Craig Federighi jumping out of a helicopter or whatever with his expensive haircut flapping in the wind. I would like to see Tim Cook take the stage and own up to the company's recent missteps. Doesn't he owe this particular audience some kind of apology after a judge put him on blast for choosing the worst option for developers at every turn? Shouldn't he at least acknowledge that the company got out over its skis showing us Apple Intelligence demos on the same stage last year that, by some accounts, were pure vaporware?
I do not want to see a two-minute Hollywood production of Craig Federighi jumping out of a helicopter or whatever
It would be the right thing to do, but one early indication makes it seem unlikely Apple will choose this path. Daring Fireball 's John Gruber's annual Talk Show episode usually features guest appearances by Apple executives who provide color on the big WWDC announcements. But Gruber says that this year, for the first time since 2015, Apple has declined the invitation to join. Notably, Gruber published a blog earlier this year taking critical aim at Apple's mishandling of AI features. Coincidence, I'm sure!
This is a strong indicator that Apple will choose the more familiar option: project confidence and keep smiling. Instead of a sincere acknowledgement of its misjudgments, we'll probably see it paper over the disastrous Apple Intelligence rollout with a sleek new redesign and a new OS naming convention for funsies. They'll keep pretending that the Vision Pro is a beloved innovation and not just collecting dust on the shelves of early adopters. They'll keep insisting that notification summaries and a text prompt image generator constitute a worthwhile AI feature set.
The trouble is, I don't think it'll be enough this time. Apple's force of personality has sustained it through past missteps, but I don't think the same playbook will work through the current crisis. The stock price is down from its highs earlier in the year — about flat from last June — a federal judge is breathing fire at Tim Cook, and it's obvious to anyone with an iPhone 16 that Apple Intelligence is half-baked at best. And the vibes? Way, way off.
But the thing about a vibe is that you can turn it around. WWDC is Apple's chance to talk directly to arguably its most important audience: developers. Apple executives would do well to remember that it was apps that made the iPhone what it is today. If developers are going to follow Apple into the next era of AI or XR or whatever the shift may be, then now would be a good time to show them a little humility.
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