Apple’s next best move could be an in-person WWDC keynote

Apple’s software and AI divisions have had a riveting past week. After Apple officially delayed key Siri upgrades to an unspecified date in “the coming year,” the person who broke that news, John Gruber, wrote a scathing criticism of Apple titled, “Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino.” Some have called on Apple to issue a public apology. Whether it should or not, here’s another idea: it’s time to bring back the in-person WWDC keynote.

The pros and cons of live and pre-recorded keynotes

There has never been a better time for Apple to make WWDC’s keynote live and in person again.

Pre-2020, every Apple keynote was live and in person. But COVID forced the company to go a different direction—and it stuck.

These days, Apple releases highly polished, pre-recorded videos for its product launches and the WWDC keynote.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Generally, pre-recorded videos offer higher production values and can be shorter thanks to tighter cuts, the lack of applause, and a highly edited approach.

Live keynotes, however, can offer more of a human touch.

Steve Jobs was famously a master of these presentations.

While Tim Cook and other Apple executives can’t necessarily match Jobs’ rhetorical skills, they nonetheless made compelling live keynotes for years before COVID.

And they can do it again. This year would be a great time.

Erasing the bad taste of Apple’s Siri ‘concept video’

At the heart of John Gruber’s recent criticism, he takes issue with Apple showing off Siri features which, as he puts it, were “vaporware.”

They were features Apple said existed, which they claimed would be shipping in the next year, and which they portrayed, to great effect, in the signature “Siri, when is my mom’s flight landing?” segment of the WWDC keynote itself…Apple was either unwilling or unable to demonstrate those features in action back in June, even with Apple product marketing reps performing the demos from a prepared script using prepared devices. […]

What Apple showed regarding the upcoming “personalized Siri” at WWDC was not a demo. It was a concept video.

Here’s the thing about pre-recorded videos: it’s way easier to market features via concept videos rather than true demos.

Sure, live demos can also be faked to fool an audience too.

But the Siri presentation was able to get a pass because highly edited videos make it easy for Apple to show something off that isn’t anywhere near ready.

And that’s a dangerous practice that harms the company’s long-standing reputation of actually delivering on what it promises.

Using WWDC to show real software, made by real humans

Apple largely seems content producing pre-recorded videos for all its presentations. But I think the company would do well to shift directions this WWDC.

If Apple held its first in-person keynote since COVID, the company would have a unique opportunity to win back trust from the press and users alike.

Craig Federighi, Tim Cook, and company could seize this unique moment to re-instill confidence in the real humans making real software at Apple.

AI dominates tech headlines, but Apple could show the value of the all-important human touch.

I don’t think the same exact same format from five years ago would necessarily be the right call. But I suspect Apple could find a way to make live presentations feel modern and fresh for 2025, merging the best of live with the benefits of videos too.

If Apple can lean hard into in-person and live, while still integrating some attention-grabbing, TikTok-friendly video clips, this WWDC could be an especially memorable one. Not just because of iOS 19’s redesign, but also for setting a new tone.

Real demos, running on real devices, could be a great way to connect with viewers and communicate that the errors of last year’s Apple Intelligence presentation won’t happen again.

And that Apple is a company that ships what it shows.

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