
Siri: Apple's trojan horse - fabiandesimone
http://fabiandesimone.com/siri-apple-trojan-horse/
======
sambeau
If anything I see the opposite happening. Siri will pull users away from
search and advertisers and back towards expert guides and personal
recommendations.

    
    
      Siri, what was that restaurant that John liked?
      Siri, where should I eat with my birthday friends?
      Siri, recommend me a live gig?
      Siri, recommend me a funny movie?
    

Suddenly we have have all the possibilities of the social graph and Netflix-
style recommendations.

Would Apple be bold enough to use Siri to collect & correct this information?

    
    
      Sam, did you enjoy the film?
      Yes, Siri, very much
      How many stars out of five would you give it?
      Four.
      Thank you, Sam. I will try to recommend similar films in the future.
    

It would be fascinating if this happened:

    
    
      Would you like to recommend it to your friends?
      Yes, Siri, I would.
    

I could see a vague possibility of Songbird-style interactions, too.

    
    
      Siri, can you notify me when tickets for The National are announced.
      Siri, please let me know when the next Quiz Night is going to be.
    

I doubt Apple will ever do this, but you never know:

    
    
      Siri, please inform me of upcoming special offers at HealthSpa

~~~
jpdoctor
I'm more worried about the follow use case:

    
    
      Siri, did you enjoy the film?
      Yes, Sam, very much
      How many stars out of five would you give it?
      Four.
      Thank you, Siri. Would you like to go to dinner?
      No thank you.  Would you like to play a game?

~~~
bobwaycott
This is exactly what I want. :)

I was just remarking the other day about how much I am hoping Siri comes with
a Joshua voice.

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kb101
In fairness to the author, I don't think this was intended as an "Apple is
evil" post, though using the term "trojan horse" makes for great linkbait.

I don't see that this is that far-fetched. Considering how many other mobile
phones have adopted features that debuted on the iPhone, it isn't much of a
stretch to imagine a startup designed to allow you opt in to location-based
discounts that are cued in part by your voice memos or location check-ins.
Apple might not be the one to do it, but it is definitely a tempting revenue
stream... if the database knows that 250 people who have "wife's shoes" on
their reminder list are currently within walking/driving distance of the local
mall, why not? Google already reads your email to serve up ads.

This kind of thing is why I don't have have a facebook page, a gmail account,
or a smarter phone than a Blackberry. I love technology and software, always
want to have the latest and greatest, but my data has to stay mine, and I can
remember who to buy shoes for well enough on my own. But I also realize that
makes me a minority and an oddity. Most people don't care if their phone knows
everything about them, and they would probably be happy to have it remind them
to buy flowers for 25% off on the way back from the bar.

~~~
fabiandesimone
Thank you. It was never intended as an "Apple is evil" post.

I realized after posting the article that using Trojan Horse could come of as
negative.

~~~
rhizome
Ah yes, it's always "I realized after posting..."

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st3fan
TL;DR This article is all about a theoretical future where Apple turns evil
and starts making deals with ad networks to pollute your Siri experience.

Pure FUD.

~~~
redthrowaway
The interesting thing is that you think this behaviour is evil. From Apple's
(or Google's, for that matter) POV, they're streamlining your life and
removing some of the pain of shopping by suggesting stores and products that
you might like, deals you can benefit from when you're shopping for something
specific, and the like. In the case of Google, their ability to target ads to
your interests allows them to provide free applications like Search, Maps,
GMail, etc. For Apple, although giving customers price relief would be highly
out of character, new revenue streams open new possibilities for future
devices and services to take the annoyance out of life.

By using these services, we are implicitly (or explicitly) agreeing to hand
over our personal information. It might make us uncomfortable that Apple knows
our wife's shoe size and favorite brands, but if we happen to be out to lunch
next to a shoe store that's having a 40% off sale and our phone lets us know,
is it really that bad?

I'm not saying I'm entirely comfortable with the proposition, but I can see
why it might end up coming about. It won't be because Apple/Google?Facebook
are Evil; it will be because consumers respond to it. For enough people, it
will be a worthwhile trade off to forego some privacy in exchange for a useful
service.

~~~
ericd
>> but if we happen to be out to lunch next to a shoe store that's having a
40% off sale and our phone lets us know, is it really that bad?

For me, yes, because it interrupts what I'm doing and breaks my focus. If I
really need shoes, then show me the best deal on shoes when I've expressed
intent and I'm not otherwise occupied. Otherwise, I don't want to hear about
it. That's why Google's ads are great, and I hate the rest - it's a high bar,
and most companies just don't care about you enough to hold back from imposing
their ads at times when it doesn't make sense.

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ja2ke
Post-return-of-Jobs Apple (and really Apple throughout its history, though
more cleanly and clearly recently) has, for all its success and all its
innovation, been very very traditional at its core: It sells hard goods to
public consumers in exchange for cash. I don't think Apple has any interest in
flipping that incredibly successful equation and selling its consumers to
advertisers.

iAd is an obvious-feeling exception to this, of course. That said, iAd has
clearly never been a focus, it's always felt like an "I guess we should," and
maybe a poster child for WebKit in the commercial/ad space, but not as a
significant means to an end for the company. How often is iAd discussed by
Apple or anyone else, especially compared to everything else they do.

They also sell content in their online stores, but that is also a false lead,
because it differs from Google and social network styles of digital
monetization. They're still selling CONTENT to CONSUMERS there, and they're
only doing it because they want Apple hardware to be the thing people buy to
consume their media.

When selling iCloud, they have repeatedly pointed out that its an advertising
free service. "Who wants ads in their email?" was the sentiment expressed at
its announcement.

Apple suddenly shifting gears, turning their precisely built, paid for and
profitable consumer goods into trojan horses for bundled adware seems nearly
entirely unlikely.

Letting users INSTALL that sort of thing wouldn't be a surprise -- "Siri, play
'Super Troopers' on Netflix" -- but that's, again, the user using a paid for
service or product on the device, not the user being sold to an advertiser.

~~~
jwco
Agree, but Apple has also always appealed to artists/lovers of the arts, and
post-return-of-Jobs Apple translated that into the iPod and iTunes/iTunes
Store, the latter of which is filled with things like reviews and ads of
sorts, or at least digital movie posters and album covers. So I wouldn't be
surprised if Siri/Apple found some non-annoying way to turn you on to new
movies/music.

------
Toddward
A compelling theory, but it would be totally unlike Apple to pull something
like this.

Why would Apple pollute the sublime, simple experience of using Siri with
advertisements? It would be uncharacteristic - it's not like a company like
Apple needs to do anything like this when they generate revenue through so
many other streams.

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tobylane
Surely people should be writing (they already briefly were before Siri was
known) about Google's attempt at this, including email and os on. Google is
far more likely to grab from every source it has, including email, in the
background. I'd expect Siri to only read emails you refer to (Siri, what was
that restaurant from the email this morning?). FUD with Google isn't as far
off as it sometimes seems (yes, agreeing with fud is stupid, but still).

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Aykroyd
I don't buy it. Having siri respond to a create reminder command with a bunch
of computer-read text about what you could buy nearby would be so obnoxious
and disruptive that it would undermine the user experience. Who would want to
use that?

Also, it's not clear to me why they would need to create a crap user
experience for some ad revenue when they get such high margins on their
devices. They don't seem to be having trouble making money.

~~~
monochromatic
Agreed, it's just too ugly. Steve Jobs would never let that happen. Oh wait.

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tjogin
This is just a bunch of made-up bullshit. I don't see why Apple is to blame
for this author's active imagination.

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veb
Imagine the horror if Apple partnered with Facebook, and allowed them access
to Siri.

Complete world domination.

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tripzilch
I just have to re-quote the best (IMO) comment below that article here (it's
not mine):

\----

Blake _October 12, 2011 at 6:14 pm_

Next thing you know, you find yourself spending more time with Siri. She
understands you. She can practically predict what you’re going to do. While
Siri does nag you, she only does so in ways that you request. What started out
as a few commands here and there turn into long conversations over
candlelight. Soon, you find yourself avoiding your wife to be able to spend
more time with Siri. After all, Siri doesn’t ask for much and is always eager
to listen to whatever you have to say.

Unfortunately you didn’t have the foresight to see that Siri is a harsh
mistress. Soon, the iPhone 5 will be released and with it will come a better
version. Siri 2.0 will start wooing you with her helpful ways and ask you to
leave the old Siri behind. But by then it will have been too late. Siri knows
the intimate details of your every life. She’s been listening into all your
conversations, reading all your emails. And she never forgets.

------
hagyma
Improving devices and technologies are taking certain things out of our hands
and heads. More and more by the hour actually...

facebook is there to remind us on birthdays for example. now... it might sound
stupid, but i don't care about those reminders and i am not that friend of
yours who says happy birthday when seeing the alert. i usually log in at
night, so if i forgot someones birthday, i let it slip.

i am pretty sure this sounds more than crazy, but i just ignore the part of
technologies where they would change my personality...

i just hope the freed up space by advancing technologies will be put to better
use, so instead of keeping your wife's birthday or your 34th anniversary in
your mind, you'll invent a more efficient way to burn fuel, or thinking
smaller, a better combination of spices for your bbq.

------
bruceboughton
Something I noticed this week: if you use the Apple Store app and are within a
few hundred metres of an actual Apple Store, the app pops up a window with
upcoming One2One sessions and genius bar openings.

~~~
culturestate
You can also check-in for your appointments via the app. It's really very
convenient.

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miles_matthias
Not sure if apple will go for the advertising bit, but I really really like
the example you gave with your wife. That would be a life saver. I also love
that sign off line - BB sucks :)

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mille562
The feature of reminding you to do X when you are near Y is part of the
Reminders app, not Siri. Siri only has the logic to take a verbal request and
add a reminder to that app.

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mrchess
I think you guys are using your imaginations a bit too much. From every Siri
video I've seen, it just seems like a typical text-to-speech recognition and
doesn't work nearly as good as advertised. Just look how many times it flops
in this demo: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mNcnj2l6RE>. The guy even
admits that "Siri doesn't always work as expected, hence the beta tag".

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vph
Apple's business model has apparently based on selling premium products at a
premium price, not giving away some products and selling in add-ons.

~~~
andyfleming
I agree.

Apple protects the user experience. I can respect that and I trust them more
than most companies. I'll admit, they even will push their own services and
block out other offerings. However, they don't just sell out in cheap,
forceful ways.

I'm not worried... yet...

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yonasb
Imaginative, yes. Possible, yes. Likely, who knows. But Siri could be the
first step towards real AI, and this guy painted the picture pretty clearly.
Bravo

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jgh
The important question nobody is asking about Siri is actually "Will Siri make
my iPad 3 porn experience weird?"

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angryasian
Apple - a future where you'll pay to be the product

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dextorious
That sounds totally unlike Apple. Last time I checked, Apple made its billions
by selling products and software, not ads.

They do have iAds, but they specifically designed those to be as unobtrusive
as possible, and developers have to _decide_ if they want to use them in their
apps.

~~~
sambeau
I wonder whether Apple lost interest in iAds a little when they realised the
potential of Siri to replace search: suddenly they had a better way to disrupt
Google.

~~~
jad
Or maybe Apple doesn't know anything about the ad business and has executed
poorly. No need to over think it.

~~~
dextorious
Or maybe they don't need to: [http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-
business/inside-the-rev...](http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-
business/inside-the-revenue-model-for-iad-why-apple-doesnt-want-to-win-the-
mobile-ad-race/6876)

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napierzaza
This is the worst prediction ever.

