According to Kuo, the way Apple handled the huge and very disappointing delay of the intelligent Siri features was not the right approach. The analyst believes Apple should’ve braved the audience and instead of defaulting to a press statement, the Cupertino giant should’ve gone through official channels.
In his post, Kuo references the “Antennagate” PR crisis back in 2010 with the iPhone 4. The Antennagate is probably the worst scandal in Apple’s history. It was related to the iPhone 4 losing connection if you’re holding it with your left hand, due to the antenna being blocked. That scandal also is the root of the “You’re holding it wrong” meme.
But the meme aside, what Steve Jobs did back in the day was to personally respond to multiple customer emails and then hold a press conference to address the cellular signal issues of the iPhone 4. In the end, Jobs ended up saying Apple would provide free bumpers to all iPhone 4 users as a workaround to the issue and also allowed unhappy customers to return their iPhones.
It seems Kuo is directly saying that Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, should have followed Jobs’ example and openly addressed the situation with the Apple Intelligence-powered Siri.
Image Credit – Ming-Chi Kuo on X
Of course, Kuo acknowledges the fact that the sophisticated Apple Intelligence that Apple envisioned for Siri is not easy to make and would take time to develop.
Kuo is also understanding about the fact that Apple hurried to announce the Apple Intelligent Siri at WWDC 2024, the rushed decision probably due, according to him, to pressure from the board and shareholders. This seems very reasonable, given the fact that all of a sudden, the entire world became obsessed with artificial intelligence…
Despite that understanding, though, Kuo underlines Apple should provide a more concrete response. Back in 2010 with the Antennagate, Jobs offered transparency to Apple fans and also provided a solution, a concrete one. Back then, Jobs held a position that Apple should educate as the “leader in the smartphone world”, and he maintained an open approach to the public.
Jobs did a similar thing with the Apple Maps shortcomings in 2012, sending an apology letter to customers. So it seems only reasonable that people would expect (including Kuo) Tim Cook to mirror this approach and address the situation with Apple Intelligence, publicly and openly. Currently, the initial rollout for the Apple Intelligence-powered Siri features has been pushed to 2026. The new Siri would have been more personalized and capable of handling tasks across various apps. When Apple announced this new Siri last year, I was personally hyped for what seemed like the ultimate use of artificial intelligence’s powers on an iPhone.
Things didn’t go as planned though and as we were waiting for that elusive Siri, it became clear something was wrong before the delay was made official.
Maybe Kuo suggesting Apple should handle the situation like Antennagate could also mean Apple should allow customers to return the iPhone 16…?
Meanwhile, direct Apple competitors like Samsung and Google have already integrated quite a lot of AI prowess into their latest smartphones. To be fair, none of it is directly at the level of this (almost fantasy-like) promised Siri. But the thing is, it seems neither Samsung nor Google promised something miracle-like. However, Apple did, and I agree with Kuo on this one: Tim Cook should’ve addressed things. Just don’t expect to be able to return the iPhone 16 over the lack of Siri, though.
