‘Ugly’ and ‘Embarrassing’ ⇥ bloomberg.com

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

Apple Inc.’s top executive overseeing its Siri virtual assistant told staff that delays to key features have been ugly and embarrassing, and a decision to publicly promote the technology before it was ready made matters worse.

Robby Walker, who serves as a senior director at Apple, delivered the stark comments during an all-hands meeting for the Siri division, saying that the team was facing a bad period. Walker also said that it’s unclear when the enhancements will actually launch, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the gathering was private.

Based on my experience in an Apple Store this week, this disappointment has not trickled down to retail employees. I was in for an appointment after I shattered my fifteen year record of keeping my screen intact, and I was told that even though my iPhone 15 Pro was “fine” because it supports Apple Intelligence, I could get nearly $700 towards a newer one after I had mine repaired. This was something I should at least consider, apparently. And, by the way, had I tried the new Apple Intelligence features? They are pretty great, right, especially automatic replies and Proofreading?

At least Walker apparently demonstrated unreleased Siri features during this meeting, showing this is not vapourware.

As of Friday, Apple doesn’t plan to immediately fire any top executives over the AI crisis, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That decision could theoretically change at any time. In any case, the company is poised to make management adjustments. It has discussed moving more senior executives under Giannandrea to assist with a turnaround effort. Already, the company tapped longtime executive Kim Vorrath — seen as a project fixer — to assist the group.

I find this a fascinating little paragraph. The first sentence feels almost like a controlled leak — after all, how many sources could be familiar with Apple’s executive-level staffing decisions? I think it sends a message that is good for Apple, which is that it currently has confidence in the existing team to complete this work. If it instead made changes “immediately”, it would imply this project is in an even worse state.

The second sentence is just a waste of words.

The rest of the paragraph is an expansion on the “immediately” qualifier. While everything is stable right now, things might change when the dust has settled. I have no interest in calling for anyone’s termination, but none of the rank-and-file engineers made the call to show it at WWDC and make it central to the new iPhone’s marketing campaign. The scale of this failure is the fault of executives and managers.