Gruner is a true fan and tends to be overly positive about Apple but I don't doubt his integrity for a second. In cases when his reporting is overly favorable to Apple in my eyes, I do believe that he truly believes what he says.

It was interesting that his first retraction was due to a post being critical of Apple. Not that there hasn't been other critical posts, but he's very positive about the brand.

Gruber himself has written a number of posts critical of Apple, some of them scathingly so.

Yeah, any time I see someone accuse Gruber of being universally positive about Apple I think they can't have been reading his work very often.

Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino: https://daringfireball.net/2025/03/something_is_rotten_in_th...

Apple subsequently stopped providing Apple execs for his annual live podcast recording at WWDC. They don't confirm it was because of that piece (unsurprisingly) but it seems very likely it was.

I came across a theory which seems more likely to me: Gruber lost access to Apple execs after he posted the following regarding Tim Cook and other tech CEOs congratulating Trump on winning the election in 2024:

“I wonder how much Cook dithered over that cheerful-looking exclamation mark. I hope he regrets it. … I wonder how much it stings to be reminded that all the money in the world cannot buy dignity. I wonder too, what taste Cheetos-dusted 78-year-old testicles leave in one’s mouth. Whatever the flavor, I hope it lingers.”

From the very end of this: https://daringfireball.net/2024/11/i_wonder

Anyone that has been in the Apple ecosystem, for any length of time, has been insanely pissed off at them -usually, multiple times.

They are a pretty arrogant megacorp, and tend to make decisions that primarily benefit themselves.

But I generally have a positive relationship with them.

I fully agree. That’s how you own a mistake.