
Apple: Siri Only Works On iPhone 4S, We Have No Plans To Support Older Devices - llambda
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/09/apple-siri-only-works-on-iphone-4s-we-have-no-plans-to-support-older-devices/
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nodata
There's no technical limitation here: Siri works with rooted phones. iirc it
was also in the App Store for older devices before Apple bought the company.

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danieldk
As the article says, it's all about model differentiation. The 4S is a fine
upgrade, but it would be far less interesting to current iPhone 4 owners if
Siri wasn't a 4S exclusive.

Apple can plaster a lot of environment-blah blah on their website, but they
(but also most Android vendors) are the anti-thesis of sustainability.
Encouraging people to upgrade frequently, and quickly deprecating old models.
E.g. my girlfriend's 3G is in a fine state hardware-wise, will probably
function well for a few more years, but there are no more security updates.

(A mostly happy iPhone 4 user.)

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spicyj
Note that the 3G is almost 3.5 years old now and few people still use it.

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sjs
Here in Canada where the oligopoly of telcos locks you into _3 year contracts_
many people in my family still use their 3GS. In fact everyone in my immediate
family with an iPhone has the 3GS (as did I until May when mine broke). Also
worth noting that the 3GS has been sold up until this very day.

Some Canadians have been upgrading from the iPhone 3G this fall as well, which
was sold up until summer 2010. My coworker just got a 4S and gave his 3G to
his mom who now loves it.

I have no idea what it's like in SF and other similar places but there's a big
world outside of California.

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chollida1
> Here in Canada where the oligopoly of telcos locks you into 3 year contracts
> many people in my family still use their 3GS.

Yep, can't stress this point enough and I don't know if its specific to Canada
or not.

I just got off my contract with a 3G iPhone in September of this year. That
phone was really starting to show it's age.

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prestia
A few points:

First, I agree with a point that others have raised regarding Siri "working"
on rooted phones. Sure, it will run, but does it run well? Does it slow the
phone down signficantly when in heavy use? Until we know for sure, I'm not
going to get worked up about it.

Second, it is very possible that the technical limitation is server-side.
Apple has a pretty spotty history with web services and limiting Siri to the
iPhone 4S may just be a way to slowly scale the backend.

Third, I think it's pretty absurd to call out Apple's lack of support for old
devices. The level of support still available for the 2.5-year-old iPhone 3GS
is outstanding compared to other smart phones. Most people who _really_ care
about having the newest tech are probably upgrading their phones every two
years anyway. And, really, who can blame Apple for wanting to differentiate
their products? I don't mind if that is the reason, but I would prefer an
honest answer if that is the only reason.

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JimDabell
> The level of support still available for the 2.5-year-old iPhone 3GS is
> outstanding

They are selling the 3GS brand new today. I don't think they deserve kudos for
supporting a current product. It should go without saying.

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prestia
That doesn't change the fact that people who bought a 3GS 2.5 years ago are
still getting significant updates to the hardware. Really, what better way is
there to support a product than continue selling it?

If you want to look at the other options out there, Android is doing a
terrible job. A number of Android phones don't even ship with the most recent
version of the OS and some never see updates at all. It's getting better, but
it's far from great.

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CurtHagenlocher
Apple sells hardware. Microsoft sells software. IBM sells services. Google and
Facebook sell advertising. Amazon sells everything.

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mambodog
Apple does not sell "hardware". Apple sells complete products that vertically
integrate hardware, software and (more recently) services.

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chrisdroukas
It's been analyzed before here — their margins come from hardware.

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glhaynes
But their "value proposition" comes from selling a complete product, in large
part to people that don't care a whit about the difference between hardware
and software.

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incandenza
I do think Apple will stick to this, but on the other hand an engineer's
comment on a bug report is not much to go on--they may not know Apple's real
plans, and Apple could go back on its stated plans anyway.

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nate
What do you mean by "works"? :)

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Zimahl
Snark aside, I'd say that Siri doesn't seem to work at least 50% of the time.

First, it tends not to be able to connect to the network. Whether with full 3G
or even over wifi a large percentage of the time you'll end up with "I'm
having trouble connecting to the network" after asking your question. There
shouldn't be any excuses here - paid for the phone which the service was a
feature, one should be able to use it whenever they need.

Second, the speech to text is severely lacking. Sure it does a fairly good job
of sentence translation but anything outside of phonetic names is just
garbage. You'll get 'Red Robin' but not 'QDoba'. You'll get the last name of
'Anderson' or 'Jones' but any ethnic name (I'm of German descent - no match, I
can't imagine being Indian, Korean, Hispanic, etc.) isn't going to match
unless you say it phonetically.

Third, it just tends to be a glorified search widget. Other than reminders or
asking about the weather you'll most likely just be prompted to search for
what you are asking. And at that point you are back to the phonetic
requirements to get what you are searching for.

I'm not saying Siri is bad, it has it's place, but this isn't the revolution
it's hyped up to be.

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Kylekramer
If you don't pay for the product, you aren't the customer. Just a more literal
interpretation of the phrase with Apple.

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insanecanadian
I don't exactly see how this is relevant to the decision not to bring a
feature to an older phone.

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cjdavis
The carrier paid for it. They want you to sign up for a contract extension to
get the shiny new phone. They have no interest in supporting your old phone.

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cdh
And who paid the carrier? I pay AT&T upwards of $3000/year, and when I
upgrade, they still charge me $100-$200 for the phones I want. I'm pretty sure
I'm paying them for that.

