TECHNOLOGY
Will Apple Be More Secretive Now?
Last year’s failures hurt them, but could they take tight lips too far?
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As I write this, WWDC 2025 is a week away, but it will be published the day before that event. I’ve read all the rumors of things said to be announced and things that seemingly will not. I can’t help wondering how Apple intends to play the reveal game this time.
They screwed up badly last year by promising things that we are apparently unlikely to see even this year. Some features aren’t even in beta yet — have they disappeared? Some say Apple has lost credibility, some call for firing Tim Cook, some see certain doom from that snafu and everything else that plagues Apple currently. Whether or not those reactions are fair, the trust hit was real.
A rock and a hard place
It seems reasonable to me that Apple will be very, very careful about what they promise this year. But how can they walk that line? I wouldn’t want to be in those very uncomfortable shoes.
Apple Can’t Afford to Overpromise Again — But It Can’t Say Nothing Either
If they play it safe and only announce features they know will show up in beta 1, WWDC will definitely be dull. But if they tease features and products that aren’t working yet, they risk a repeat of 2024 — and further erosion of confidence.
So how can Apple walk this line?
Maybe let some third-party developers play with and talk about not-quite-ready APIs so that it’s not Apple’s fault if the results are full of bugs? But dammit, it would be Apple’s fault! I don’t think that would be smart.
There’s always the “underpromise and overdeliver” gambit. Apple has done that in the past with good results, but too little promise can mean too little customer excitement.
This indeed is a treacherous tightrope to walk. So here’s the question I’m asking going into WWDC:
Will Apple risk saying too much again? Or will it say too little and bore us? I’ll be watching tomorrow — will you?
