I find myself somewhat in sympathy with this article, but not because of the Apple Intelligence fiasco. I think the author is too harsh. Nevertheless, I’m finding myself less and less enthusiastic about watching WWDC. I’ll probably watch it after the fact so I can speed through it, but I’m growing a little weary of the hyperbole. Is this evidence I’m turning into a curmudgeon, or are you finding yourself feeling the same?
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Well certainly it is not like when The Steve was on stage, but I keep watching them with interest, although not in real time streaming.
The author has a point though. After all, I can predict that this years’ M5 will be 20% more powerful than the M4 and will have a couple gazillions more transistors/neurogizmos.
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+1
I stopped watching live WWDC keynotes a few years before Covid. I didn’t like the initial bragging and have never been a gamer, etc. I’ll wait for the YouTube video again this year.
I don’t think David is being too harsh. In fact I think there is a chance that John Giannandrea fell on his sword to protect Apple from a decision that he wasn’t entirely responsible for making. IMO, more words mean nothing at this point.
Apple is a premier hardware manufacturer in a world where software has been more important to businesses for decades. Now that the same thing is starting to happen at the consumer level it will be interesting to watch how Apple manages the change.
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Maybe they will announce Apple Intelligence for real this time!
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Right now, after last year’s WWDC turned out to be mostly lies, wishful thinking, and fancy demos of stuff that did not even exist/still does not exist, I have a diminishing interest in watching anything from Apple other than actual product announcements.
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The article is a bit over the top for me, too cynical and negative for my tastes.
On the other hand, he makes a lot of good points. In their over-enthusiasm for everything, Apple comes across to me as fake. That’s espeically true with Tim Cook as presenter; the hand gestures and trying-hard-to-be-oh-so-sincere have been a turn off for me since he first took the stage. IMHO, he shouldn’t be up there.
I also get completely bored when they spend precious minutes going into an in depth analysis of exactly how many gigo-masicules the new upgrade has compared to the M1 and the latest version. I tune out and really don’t care. Is it faster? Approximately how much faster? With those two questions I’m done.
There are rumors that there is an iOS makeover planned for this Fall. That does sound interesting to me. If true, I’m looking forward to seeing the mock ups of what it might look like.
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I used to actually block off the time to watch it live. The past couple of years I usually wait until one of the Mac news sites posts one of those “everything announced at WWDC” sorts of posts. I skim the post, then go find and watch the complete sections with the stuff I’m interested in.
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I still watch all of them live but find the times I get excited less frequent each time. (I think the last one I really got excited about was hearing aids/protection in AirPods)
I stopped reading after a little as I could see this guy felt genuinely hurt by Apple Intelligence, which I think is sad.
I haven’t watched WWDC live in a couple of years, even though I’m a developer and write Swift. I stream the parts that affect me but have no interest in the hype. I don’t watch iPhone launches either, and prefer to simply read the specs and then decide.
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I liked the protections in the AirPods as well. The other one that thrilled me was offline maps.
Other than that I really don’t get excited about these anymore. Honestly, if little changed in the Apple ecosystem for now I’d be fine with it.
Some new camera things in the phones, maybe loosening up the syncing options for other cloud drives – that would be nice.
I don’t really need much more. The hardware I have is great, the OS is stable enough. I have zero interest in the VisionPro, AI, or foldable phones.
If I"m going to do anything new with tech it would be moving more and more away from tracking of my data and activities.
Hmmm…if only everything else in my life was so feature complete and stable…
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I think that with the move to delivery via video rather than a live stage show, it’s less important to watch “live”.
I will still watch either live or later in the evening, I still get excited about new features.
Will there be any atonement for not delivering what was promised? that’s not Apple’s way and by delivering the press release about delayed AI features to John Gruber, they will have hoped to have headed that off at the pass, but I suspect that Apple have been and will be listening to key podcasts and reading blogs to see what the sentiment is. They should definitely declare Mea Culpa.
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WWDC remains my favorite event. It is the one event that I might* actually get the features announced as someone who keeps their phone for 4 years and their laptop for 7-10 years.
I have a standing wish-list for features I want Apple to adopt that keeps me watching live that has been whittled down to two features.
(1) Notes app for the Watch.
(2) Watch app for the iPad or Mac. (I really really really want my Apple Watch to replace my iPhone)
Apple intelligence was a disappointment but all in all none of my hardware could support it last year (it can now on my Apple Silicon Mac I got since then) but seeing what changes they make to their platforms is always interesting. (Gotta admit I laughed at the hooray sounds on the calculator for the iPad last year)
WWDC remains the only event that’s a must watch for me and outside the flub of apple intelligence, the recent spate of investment in their productivity apps has been really cool.
The WWDC keynote has become a bit more like an infomercial, but I still watch it. Increasingly, I have found the “State of the Platforms” presentation to be better than the keynote. And the tutorial video sessions are good.
Due to my work schedule, I always end up watching after the fact.
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I ought to get into the state of the platforms. I am not a developer so I tend to focus on the keynote. I am also ashamed to admit how much my work suffered on Keynote day.
I’m still an annual watcher of the keynote and State of the Union. I used to work with developers who would watch them together and sometimes have some food. Good memories. Now we eat our own food and message each other a bit.
I am reminded of the last “product” at WWDC - the Vision Pro - a product that has yet to become compelling.
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Unless after spending $3,500 and to avoid buyer’s remorse, you feel “compelled” to use it. 
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It used to be a lot better, now the SOTP seems more like a different take on the same hype as the keynote.
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the HomePod was also a WWDC reveal…
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Agreed. My wife always teases me “Why are you watching that cheesy 2 hour long infomercial again?”
In terms of AI mea culpa, unfortunately, I believe the pending lawsuits around false advertising claims knowingly pushing iPhone features that could not be delivered will probably mean the lawyers will be parsing the scripts with microscopes and not allow even a hint of apology.
As another pundit said (sorry, I don’t have the link/reference), the difference is that Google always hypes and demos their latest lab experiments, but doesn’t give any promise about product delivery.
Apple needs to better delineate between previews of tech or features, and pre-announcement of product delivery that is not certain.
There are, of course, a few tech companies that simply wait to announce products until they are ready to ship but, alas, that is in smaller more niche markets and industries.