Dirty time for Apple. The apple firm combines problems at the moment, with delay in the new version of Siri, its intelligent vocal assistant, and a complaint for false advertising.
Time is spoiling for Apple. Because if the Cupertino firm has built a reputation for innovation and reliability for decades, it is today in an unexpected torment by accumulating delays and disappointments. A delicate situation which has just worsen by a complaint and which obliges him to review his plans and even to reorganize to try to hold his objectives and his promises on an increasingly competitive market which undermines his image.
In question, the delayed launch of Siri, its vocal assistant improved by generative artificial intelligence (AI), initially presented as a new technological revolution. This setback represents a major challenge for the company, whose promises of Apple Intelligence seem far from being realized.
New Siri: Apple Intelligence’s unwitting promises
During the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2024, Apple had unveiled its ambitions for Siri. With functions powered by a generative AI, the assistant had to offer a much more personalized interaction with users. In promotional videos, Siri was able to manage complex tasks, such as organizing a lunch from various information from the iPhone or filling out forms automatically thanks to recorded personal data.“With even richer language comprehension capacities, Siri is more natural, more suitable for the context and more personal, and it is able to simplify and accelerate daily tasks. It can compensate if users come up against certain words and keep the context of one request to another”said Apple last year in its presentations.
Alas, these beautiful promises were quickly undermined. Internally, the tests have revealed major dysfunctions, which forced Apple to repel repeatedly the release of this improved version of Siri, now planned for 2026.
Consumers, seduced by advertisements and impatient to discover this new generation Siri, were the first disappointed. Apple had highlighted these functions when released its iPhone 16, supported by a major advertising campaign with actress Bella Ramsey. However, these promised capacities have never seen the light of day. The advertising spots, broadcast massively, suggested that Siri, via Apple Intelligence, would be available in the fall of 2024. It was precisely this communication strategy, deemed misleading, which sparked a complaint for “false advertising” before a Federal Tribunal in California. The complainants believe they were misleading by a promise not held and claim compensation.
This type of dispute is rare for Apple, especially since the brand has generally been able to respect the deadlines set for the launch of its products. Nevertheless, the complexity of Siri’s development seems to have taken the Californian firm short. As reported by several recent articles, some large laying of the company recognized internally the delay in the development of the new Siri and Apple Intelligence. According to Mark Gurman. The, still very well informed Bloomberg journalist, Robby Walker, director of the Siri division, would have recognized delays “ugly and embarrassing”, adding that the missing functions of Siri may not be integrated into iOS 19 this year as initially planned.
Apple Intelligence: late on competition
Faced with this crisis situation, John Giannandrea, the manager of artificial intelligence recruited in 2018 to supervise this project, was recently dismissed. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has lost confidence in its ability to carry out the development of AI, now entrusting the task to Mike Rockwell, another key figure of the company, so far responsible for the vision pro helmet.
Apple Intelligence’s delay is not only an internal problem for the apple brand. On the ultra-competitive AI market, Apple risks being in a weak position in the face of its competitors, including Google and Samsung. While Apple is slow to deliver an efficient version of Siri, Samsung, equipped with the Gemini of Google, is gaining ground with similar technologies. While Siri had been the first voice assistant in history in 2011, Apple is now distant in a race where she had long been a pioneer.
This false advertising complaint could well mark a turning point for Apple’s strategy. Already forced to remove his advertising videos on YouTube, the American giant will have to manage the expectations of its users while trying to catch up in terms of artificial intelligence. Faced with competitors who advance quickly, Apple finds itself in a delicate position, a land on which society is not used to playing.
From the Apple because to the Apple Vision Pro: between abandonment and disappointment
Especially since Siri and Apple Intelligence are not the only problems of Cupertino, which has been facing delicate strategic choices for some time. In February 2024, we learned that the firm abandoned its autonomous car project, the Apple because: an adventure started in 2014 which would have swallowed up some $ 10 billion in vain research. In addition, the Apple Vision Pro, the famous virtual and augmented reality headset launched at the end of 2023, did not meet the expected success. Despite the mining promises of Tim Cook who hoped to make it a new technological revolution, similar to the computer and smartphone, the gadget obviously did not appeal to the public, not only because of its high price – 4000 euros in France -, but also and above all, because of its uselessness – not to mention the fact that it encloses its users in a bubble.
Finally, even if the iPhone is still sold very well, its latest versions (15 and 16) seem to mark the step in terms of innovation, being content with small incremental improvements, proving that Apple has reached a level. With an progression now technologically logarithmic, the concept of the smartphone seems to run out of steam, all the models starting to be alike on a particularly congested market on which competitors, especially Chinese, are more dynamic. And if the latest rumors show a criminal iPhone and an ultra fine model, Apple will have to be a great imagination to seduce a bit blasé audience again.
It is hardly only in the field of pure computers that Apple still appears as a pioneer. With its M fleas M, and in particular the M4 which now equips the Macs and certain iPads, the Cupertino firm has taken a serious lead on the other actors, proving that its architecture combining very high performance with excellent energy efficiency is much higher than Intel and AMD solutions. But these specialists in PC processors did not say their last word, and the arrival of Qualcomm and Nvidia on this market could well rebatter cards in the near future. In short, Apple is playing big at the moment on all tables, and 2025 may well be a pivotal year in the history of the apple. And even if Apple has no financial problems – the company is still valued at some $ 3000 billion and it has a comfortable war treasure – Tim Cool should not sleep very well right now …