Toroidal

I could support some of this. I do not support turning iOS into some kind of public utility, where every new feature must have a stable supported interface for 3rd parties to compete the instant it is introduced. Whether it is LIDAR or UWB or whatever, the reason to spend the capital to bring it to market is to have Apple's product differentiated from the competition. The incentive to invest, the flexibility to make radical changes after introducing it, or the ability to remove a new feature if it does not work out, have to be maintained. (requiring access to all "consumer device features" opens the door for 3rd party lawsuits for changing or deleting some novel feature) 

The reasoning presented here for abandoning the iPhone Mini applies perfectly well to the iPad Mini which is a very small slice of iPads (~10%). Given that the phone market for Apple is much much larger than the tablet market, the iPad Mini should have been given the axe long before the Mini phone. Hence the angst of modestly sized phone lovers is well justified given Apple's inconsistent approach. Add to that, Apple Silicon is uniquely suited to small powerful devices, and Apple could offer what no other OEM could for truly mobile pocketable phones. As noted above, nobody else is addressing that market, which Apple could have to itself - and do it at a premium. Apple is no stranger to high margin low volume markets. 

Wesley_Hilliard said:

ihatescreennames said:

AppleInsider said:

Joz even scoffed at the idea of it being "demo ware," in what seemed to be a pointed comment at Daring Fireball's John Gruber.

Sure, now that it’s a year later. We still aren’t seeing the semantic index stuff that was touted at WWDC 2024. What is Joz scoffing at?

At the suggestion that what was shown during WWDC 2024 was faked or not actually running.

Apple implied a general ability with their demo - without the necessary caveats, context, limitations explicitly stated. I think calling it vaporware or demo ware is perfectly appropriate. Apple execs may be technically accurate to say Siri did that one thing unfaked, but it was seriously misleading and they had to know that at the time. It's not the same level of fakery as Tesla's FSD video, but Apple hurt their reputation/credibility with their promises.