[besson3c]

This is a spin off thread from my open source thread...

What do you think? Is Siri just a small thing, perhaps even a flop, or is it the start of a new generation of search? Do you see Siri sort of becoming a form of massive intelligence on the internet capable of learning all sorts of new things, licensed to other vendors (say, for example, automotive companies), maybe even a web service, or is it fundamentally flawed technology?

[mindwaves]

Siri is SLOW. I don't even use it except for making a reminder such as waking me up or telling me to go somewhere. The fact that it has to rely on Apple's servers for everything is annoying and slow when compared to Google Voice. GV can translate on the fly and provide near instant results.

It's flawed technology. Can be improved a lot.

[Shaddim]

I don't think it's that slow, but it could use an improvement in response time.

[Phileas]

Google Voice is a phone replacement, no?

On my Nexus, voice recognition is about as fast as it is on my wife's iPhone.

[subego]

Siri needs better uptime before it's anything more than a toy.

[andi*pandi]

Siri is better than typing on a phone, but needs correcting and more context awareness. And yes, sometimes she can't do stuff "right now."

I wonder how much space she takes up, if she could even fit on a phone for basic text transcribing, notes, etc.

[subego]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

I wonder how much space she takes up...

She's pretty voluptuous.

[Waragainstsleep]

I still like Siri very much. Its high time Apple expanded her range though. 3rd party app support on iOS, and bring her to the Mac too. Any chance we'll see either of these at WWDC next month? Haven't heard any rumours about it but Siri has been in public beta for 2 years now.

[Doc HM]

I think Siri may end up as Apples latest Dashboard. A good start followed up by zero interest and development. How long since it was launched? 18 months? In that time its got absolutely no better at all. It's a cutesy idea that can be used to sell iOS on TV ads but Google handed Siri's head on a platter back to apple with Google Voice.

If Siri had had ANY appreciable upgrades since launch I would have given it a fighting chance but I suspect it will die a slow death, at which point voice will suddenly break out and Apple will be left cold.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doc HM 

I think Siri may end up as Apples latest Dashboard. A good start followed up by zero interest and development. How long since it was launched? 18 months? In that time its got absolutely no better at all. It's a cutesy idea that can be used to sell iOS on TV ads but Google handed Siri's head on a platter back to apple with Google Voice.

If Siri had had ANY appreciable upgrades since launch I would have given it a fighting chance but I suspect it will die a slow death, at which point voice will suddenly break out and Apple will be left cold.

Do you think Siri's problems were scalability/server performance and these were deemed insurmountable, or did something else happen here?

Maybe I'm just crazy, but when both iCloud and Siri came out I figured that these things would be a very big deal and the start of something big that would be improving and growing semi-regularly. Was I the only one with this impression?

[subego]

No, but you need to put it through the "Apple Online Service Filter".

If Apple isn't getting a thick, ropy, revenue stream from it, they just cant do online services without ****ing it up.

[Doc HM]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Do you think Siri's problems were scalability/server performance and these were deemed insurmountable, or did something else happen here?

I think Apple just really has no idea how to deliver on online service. Look at how seriously the other major players take online service. I mean google run their own hardware on their own OS running their own databases with custom network architecture, Apple uses of the shelf MS Azure crapola. Even Facebook run an almost fully custom setup.

Apple really is not an online thinking company, sometimes I despair that they even really get software.

Unless they want to spend the next decade and pretty much all their cash pile really learning how to do online Siri is DOA and iCloud will be a lightweight consumer cloud option.

[subego]

All Apple is really bringing to the table with Siri is, well, stuff like naming it Siri. Apple has taste.

I'm sure Google's version is vastly superior in every way except Google has a robot and Apple has a "person".

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Doc HM 

I think Apple just really has no idea how to deliver on online service. Look at how seriously the other major players take online service. I mean google run their own hardware on their own OS running their own databases with custom network architecture, Apple uses of the shelf MS Azure crapola. Even Facebook run an almost fully custom setup.

Apple really is not an online thinking company, sometimes I despair that they even really get software.

Unless they want to spend the next decade and pretty much all their cash pile really learning how to do online Siri is DOA and iCloud will be a lightweight consumer cloud option.

I agree 150%.

But here's an interesting thought: IF Apple would "get" online, they could indeed go to the next level. I always wondered if current AAPL valuations are justified.
They are ONLY if Apple gets its online act together. It's a pretty low hanging fruit, but Apple showed for years how they f$&@ up online.

-t

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I agree 150%.

But here's an interesting thought: IF Apple would "get" online, they could indeed go to the next level. I always wondered if current AAPL valuations are justified.
They are ONLY if Apple gets its online act together. It's a pretty low hanging fruit, but Apple showed for years how they f$&@ up online.

-t

I agree. Wondering about Apple getting to the next level was sort of what prompted this thread and the other one involving open source/public APIs (which are an important part of the web service world).

[Tiresias]

There's been a fair amount of moaning from linguists about the impact of texting on literacy but I believe this conversation is already irrelevant and that Siri is part of the reason.

In my experience the use of abbreviations and acronyms ("C U L8R" and so on) has already become pretty uncommon since the advent of touch screens with Qwerty keyboard layouts and autocorrect and is now more a relic of G1 mobile phones with kinetic alphanumeric keys when such usage actually conserved a decent amount of time and energy and was therefore justified.

When voice recognition technology, like Siri, greatly improves, I believe it will have a positive impact on teen literacy.

For example, let's imagine a teen dictates the text, "You're going to be there?"

In their ignorance, they may imagine this renderable as, "Your gonna be their" but will see the phrase corrected on their phone by their phone.

I think this will have a gradual corrective effect on spelling and grammar.

Just a thought.

[subego]

I think a far more fundamental change in communication and language is happening, namely the ease of access to and creation of images.

I've got at least 100 distinct varieties of facepalm I can throw at someone.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by Doc HM 

I think Apple just really has no idea how to deliver on online service. Look at how seriously the other major players take online service. I mean google run their own hardware on their own OS running their own databases with custom network architecture, Apple uses of the shelf MS Azure crapola. Even Facebook run an almost fully custom setup.

This is quite surprising to me. I remember when Mac OS X first came out, Apple did have some parts of their web servers running their own dog food, but I guess it never fleshed out fully for unknown reasons. Kind of sad really.

[Waragainstsleep]

They did used to use webobjects for most of their services. No idea what they do now.

[besson3c]

No mention of Siri at the big All Things Digital interview... I wonder if we'll hear something at WWDC?

[OAW]

Apple seriously needs to just license Google's voice recognition technology as the interface for Siri and Dictation. It is wicked fast and embarrassingly more accurate. Keep the server side natural language processing because that's often very useful. And definitely keep the iOS integration because that's what distinguishes Siri from Google Now. That would be one helluva feature.

OAW

[Phileas]

Even with the superior accuracy, I am still finding myself correcting my phone enough to make the feature close to useless.