Yes they didn't push it as hard as, say, copilot. I still think they got in way too deep way too fast.
I don’t necessarily agree with the post you’re responding to, but what I will give Apple credit for is making their AI offering unobtrusive.
I tried it, found it unwanted and promptly shut it off. I have not had to think about it again.
Contrast that with Microsoft Windows, or Google - both shoehorning their AI offering into as many facets of their products as possible, not only forcing their use, but in most cases actively degrading the functionality of the product in favor of this required AI functionality.
> Apple made an out of character misstep by releasing a terrible UX to everyone
Yes they knew Apple maps was bad and not up to standard yet, but they didn't really have any other choice.
Quite plausibly they just didn't realize how rocky the start would be, or perhaps they valued that immediate strategic autonomy more in the short-term that we think, and willingly chose to take the hit to their reputation rather than wait.
Regardless, they had choices.
Henry Ford was 23 years “slow” relative to Karl Benz.
The models and devices just aren't quite there yet.
Once Google gets its shit together and starts deploying (cloud--based) AI features to Android devices en masse, Apple is going to have a really big problem on their hands.
Most users say that they want privacy, but if privacy comes in the way of features or UX, they choose the latter. Successful privacy-respecting companies (Apple, Signal) usually understand this, it's why they're successful, but I think Apple definitely chose the wrong tradeoff here.