Yearly between 2015 and 2024, not less than one Apple govt agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber for a particular WWDC episode of his podcast, The Discuss Present. Final yr, for instance, Apple’s software program engineering chief Craig Federighi, advertising chief Greg Joswiak, and high AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage on the California Theatre in San Jose to debate Apple Intelligence and extra.
Apple’s response to Gruber’s interview request (mainly)
That decade-long custom abruptly got here to an finish final month, when Apple declined Gruber’s invitation to talk for this yr’s particular episode.
Just a few months previous to that, Gruber revealed a weblog submit that was closely vital of Apple. In that piece, the well-known Apple pundit mentioned that the corporate “pitched a narrative that wasn’t true” at WWDC 2024, when it previewed a extra personalised Siri that was not near being prepared and is now delayed. He mentioned that the state of affairs broken Apple’s credibility, and he expressed concern that it may very well be an indication of larger issues inside the corporate.
Unsurprisingly, Apple didn’t just like the commentary.
Within the newest episode of the Channels podcastGruber informed Enterprise Insider’s Peter Kafka that Apple was “not completely satisfied” in regards to the weblog submit and felt it was unfair.
Nevertheless, Gruber mentioned Apple’s absence was really a internet constructive for him.
“I am not making an attempt to lack humility right here — however I really feel them deciding to not do my present this yr is a complete win for me and was an enormous loss for them,” he mentioned.
Why does he consider that?
“I feel it asserts my independence,” he argued. “And I feel greater than making me look good, I feel it makes them look unhealthy.”
For his WWDC 2025 episode, Gruber ended up interviewing The Wall Road Journal’s Joanna Stern and The Verge’s Nilay Patel.