At WWDC 2024, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence. It wasn’t a model, or an app, or a chatbot. It was a promise — that intelligence could feel native, private, and softly woven into everyday life.

But the rollout paused. Siri didn’t change. The features didn’t arrive. Lawsuits followed. The rest of the industry moved forward — faster, louder, and honestly? Steve Jobs did not die for this.

Even now, Siri can’t answer what month it is. Intelligence may be coming — but it hasn’t arrived yet.

Then, on Thursday, Apple made a move: Mike Rockwell — the executive behind Vision Pro — was asked to lead Siri. A slow product, given to a systems thinker.

The Quiet Life of Siri

Siri has lived in Apple’s ecosystem for over a decade. And for most of that time, it’s felt behind — brittle, slow, unsure of itself. Not a tool, not a companion. A shortcut for alarms.

When Apple Intelligence was announced, something shifted. Expectations rose. People imagined a new Siri — fluid, generative, useful. But what they got felt the same. Under the hood, Apple was building. Publicly, it was standing still.

This has happened before. In 2012, Apple Maps launched broken. At first, it leaned on Google and Mapbox. It lacked fidelity. People laughed.

This is what Apple Maps looked like in 2012. It didn’t just launch unfinished — it launched fundamentally broken. Streets melted into rivers, landmarks vanished, and the app couldn’t tell you where you were going.

But today? Apple Maps is, beautiful, and deeply integrated. Apple rebuilt its map — not just its interface. It took years. Not quarters. Siri may be taking the same path.

Designing Intelligence

Apple doesn’t want to impress you with AI. It wants it to integrate into it's ecosystem.

That takes time. It also takes trust.

While others launch agents and copilots, Apple is working with restraint. Not to show you something new, but to make what’s already there more fluid, more aware, more quiet.

Intelligence, in Apple’s world, might not speak much. It might just know. Like a gesture. A glance. A seamless transition between intent and action.

Apple Intelligence may seem late. Siri may still stumble. But Apple plays the long game. And when it lands, expect a perfect landing.

Maps failed before it became essential. Siri might be next.

If Apple gets this right, the future won’t be unveiled. It’ll just fade in. Already there. Already working.