
Is Siri really Apple’s future? - czr80
http://counternotions.com/2012/11/12/siri-future/
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beloch
In recent history, Apple has been promising a lot but frequently has problems
delivering. Siri is a perfect example of promising much but delivering little,
although it does serve that "little" with a touch of style. Siri's
"personality" is very well done.

Google arguably delivers more utility with it's voice recognition features. If
you want context, Google Now serves that up in spades (almost to a scary
degree)! However, Google seems averse to presenting that utility with a
personal touch, as Siri does. Google also seems to prefer understating what
their offerings can do to the point that few people seem to even know they're
there. Every time I play around with Android's voice features I find out it
can do things I had no idea it could do before.

While Apple talks big and Google quietly delivers, it's telling who the media
darling is. You just can't sell much copy about a collection of integrated
voice features, no matter how well they work, when there's a named pseudo-AI
sitting in a lot of people's pockets! Thanks to Siri, Apple has people sold on
the notion that the future is coming even while it's quietly arriving ahead of
schedule from Google.

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ldayley
I'm not really clear on why Google couldn't achieve the same ends with a
similar approach on Android phones (at least on the Nexus reference models).
As dubious as this paradigm is, it seems like such a no-brainer for a company
whose continued success relies on parsing intent signals and selling to
advertisers. And they are probably the only company as trusted as Apple, IHMO.

(edited for clarity)

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ripperdoc
Apple should build on their strength, and in this case, it's apps. Presume
that in iOS7, they launch a new API that "forces" apps to expose searchable
data in a lexical format that Siri understands. Basically, giving apps
"intent" and "content", and let Siri play with it. Google has a difficult
task, because it searches EVERYTHING - but if Siri (mainly) searches just what
you have installed, it is already at a much better hit rate, and the apps can
not only serve information but also take actions.

If they don't let Siri interwork with apps, I cannot see how it will ever go
beyond setting alarms...

