Jobs' Mob shares nosedived six minutes into its WWDC keynote slipping from $206 to below $201. Things went south when someone mentioned Siri.
Software veep Craig Federighi was on stage churning out recycled bits about Apple Intelligence, including Genmoji, smart replies and a photo cleanup feature that looks suspiciously familiar to anyone with a Google account. Then came the clanger.
“We're continuing our work to deliver the features that make Siri even more personal. This work needed more time to reach our high quality bar, and we look forward to sharing more about it in the coming year,” Federighi said.
Investors, having waited long enough and clearly heard that as "Siri is still borked."
What was sold as Apple's grand entrance into the generative AI race ended with an admission that its flagship voice assistant still can't be trusted with the basics. The Tame Apple Press tried its best to spin it as a visionary move but no amount of PR polish could hide the fact that Job’s Mob has completely lost the AI plot.
Wedbush Securities tech analyst Dan Ives said: “WWDC laid out the vision for developers BUT was void of any major Apple Intelligence progress. We get the strategy but this is a big year ahead for Apple to monetise on the AI front.”
Ives added that Apple CEO Tim Cook may have to break the bank on acquisitions just to catch up, however he has revealed Apple's lack of ideas by allowing millions of app developers to access its artificial intelligence models for the first time. Developers can test the new software features starting on June 9, while a full rollout for consumers will follow in the autumn, Cook said. The AI features are only available on recent models of the iPhone.
It would appear that Cook thinks that despite having an AI system which is well behind rivals, developers might come up with products which make it more appetising for the riff-raff who buy Apple gear. That idea might work, but for the fact that developers who come up with something will have to give Jobs' Mob a huge cut to put it in the Apple store.
That gap is becoming harder to ignore. While Microsoft, OpenAI and Google are flinging out new models and features on a near-weekly basis, Apple is still promising updates next year. It even had to pull ads earlier this year after regulators noticed its “available now” AI claims were, in fact, available nowhere.
Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said the company’s hush-hush treatment of Siri was glaring. “The silence surrounding Siri was deafening. Apple continues to tweak its Apple Intelligence features, but no amount of text corrections or cute emojis can fill the yawning void of an intuitive, interactive AI experience,” he said.
Once Apple’s strategy of waiting until everything was perfect gave it an edge. In the current AI race, that delay just looks like indecision.
“The end of the Siri runway is coming up fast,” Chatterjee said. Right now, it looks like Job’s Mob is taxiing in circles.
