Forbes: Siri is a Google Killer

[Bateluer]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/10/28/why-siri-is-a-google-killer/

That flushing sound you just heard . . . that was their credibility going down the toilet.

1. Siri works.

2. Siri has personality.

3. Siri is hard to copy.

4. Siri helps own the customer experience for Apple.

5. Siri will vastly improve in the next 2 years based on all the data it’s amassing.

So much fail in one article. . . .brain can't take the stupid!

1 - Yep, so do several other voice recognition apps on multiple platforms. Google's had voice recognition, speech to text, etc, since 2009 and its damn good. There's also several apps for Android that expand it, leading to . . .

2 - Personality, granted, the voice in Android has the personality of a face painted on a rock. Big selling point? Not really, since it still returns better results faster using fewer words.

3 - Come again? How is it hard to copy? Been around for years before Siri, though I'm sure Apple will claim they invented it.

4 - Storing every word you speak to Siri on Apple servers . . . nope, don't see a problem with that.

5 - Of course it'll improve. Technology does that.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I don't think that article is so far off, the people I know that have it are REALLY happy with it.

I've used Google's speech recognition a lot, and it works, but it's nothing like Siri.

 

[Spoooon]

I don't think that article is so far off, the people I know that have it are REALLY happy with it.

I've used Google's speech recognition a lot, and it works, but it's nothing like Siri.

My wife really likes it. Maybe I'm just a jaded techno-snob at this point, but I'm not all that impressed.

 

[Mopetar]

3 - Come again? How is it hard to copy?

Any algorithm tweaks that get made are all server side, meaning it's really hard for anyone else to even peek at the code.

Also, learning algorithms like this get better as they're being fed massive amounts of data. Even if you have the same algorithm and set up your own service, it would be years behind in terms of learning.

That these kinds of services have been worked on for years and are still fairly rough around the edges just goes to show how difficult it is to get them working well.

 

[Bateluer]

Any algorithm tweaks that get made are all server side, meaning it's really hard for anyone else to even peek at the code.

Also, learning algorithms like this get better as they're being fed massive amounts of data. Even if you have the same algorithm and set up your own service, it would be years behind in terms of learning.

That these kinds of services have been worked on for years and are still fairly rough around the edges just goes to show how difficult it is to get them working well.

So, what you're saying here is that Google basically has a ~3 year head start over Apple? You know, since they've gathering the same data for far longer, using proprietary algorithms too.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Forbes proves once again that they are Apple fanboys!

Voice recognition has been around for a long time and Google has had it for a while as well so Apple has no legs to stand on if they intend to claim ownership of the idea.

I have not used Siri, I have an iP4 but not iP4S, but all indications are that Apple has taken a third party app and improved it to the point that it's the best mobile voice recognition system AT THIS TIME. I suspect that Google will improve the voice system in future versions of Android and I also expect third party apps in the Android ecosystem will improve as well.


Brian

 

[YoungGun21]

Google hires the best software minds in the world. You seriously think they won't pour resources into this if they view it as a threat?

Yes my oh my Google must be finished because Apple bought a company with a nice product and implemented it with their own products.

 

[Bateluer]

Forbes proves once again that they are Apple fanboys!

Voice recognition has been around for a long time and Google has had it for a while as well so Apple has no legs to stand on if they intend to claim ownership of the idea.

I have not used Siri, I have an iP4 but not iP4S, but all indications are that Apple has taken a third party app and improved it to the point that it's the best mobile voice recognition system AT THIS TIME. I suspect that Google will improve the voice system in future versions of Android and I also expect third party apps in the Android ecosystem will improve as well.


Brian

Siri is running on the iP4 and the current gen iPod Touch, though the Touch has issues because of its poorer microphone. There's no public release yet though, and may not be an official release due to licensing and proprietary code.

 

[Pliablemoose]

What kills me is all the angst & drama over Siri by people that have no intention of every buying an iPhone... WTF????

Do you hear iOS device owners ranting about Google apps?

(except the horribly flawed GMail app that was released and pulled on the same day on iOS.)

Andy Ruben says voice recognition is no big deal, so WTH, just let it go and allow iOS users to be happy with their new phones...

 

[Bateluer]

What kills me is all the angst & drama over Siri by people that have no intention of every buying an iPhone... WTF????

Do you hear iOS device owners ranting about Google apps?

(except the horribly flawed GMail app that was released and pulled on the same day on iOS.)

Andy Ruben says voice recognition is no big deal, so WTH, just let it go and allow iOS users to be happy with their new phones...

We don't. Its the claiming that 'Siri will kill Android' and the 'Apple invented voice recognition' and the 'voice recognition is a killer feature' statements that infuriate people. Because they're blatant falsehoods. All part of Apple's reality distortion field.

 

[Anubis]

my buddy has an ip4s and the only thing he uses siri for is to make it say penis. to quote him "its neat and it works but its not that useful in reality"

its the same wah I feel about androids voice crap. it works and if fin to f with every now and again but basically usless for anything I do day to day

 

[Pliablemoose]

We don't. Its the claiming that 'Siri will kill Android' and the 'Apple invented voice recognition' and the 'voice recognition is a killer feature' statements that infuriate people. Because they're blatant falsehoods. All part of Apple's reality distortion field.

Um, it's selling a ton of iP4S's so they're right, I know a ton of people that are dying to upgrade to it...

You missed page 2 of the article and point 6:

6. When Siri opens up its API to 3rd party developers, this thing’s growth and adoption will go ballistic. At the moment, Siri is in “beta” and no 3rd party app exists. But what happens when you allow developers to write Siri-enabled scripts that tie into their websites – like Yelp, OpenTable, and others? Siri will become even smarter. For users, it will become even more valuable because better and better data results will come back to it. And Apple — as happened in the iPhone and then iPad spaces — will have a huge lead in 3rd party apps tied into this powerful interface.
Ultimately, Siri is a “rich get richer” story. An amazing app today has such a head-start that it will encourage massive adoption, which will allow Scott Forstall and his team at Apple to make it even better with an enormous lead.
When I first heard about Siri, I thought about its similarities to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Kinect – creating a new form of interacting with information. Yet, it’s obviously so much more powerful and universal as an interface compared to hand-waving.
Ultimately, Siri is intended to be a Google killer. It won’t happen overnight. Research in Motion didn’t collapse after the iPhone was released in January 2007. In fact, RIM hit all-time highs 18 months after iPhone’s introduction. It’s only now — 4.5 years after its introduction — that we see how iPhone caused RIM’s slow-motion car crash. It might take that long for Siri to inflict that much harm to Google and Google has lots of cash to throw at the problem. But we might be watching the beginning of the end of Google, thanks to innocuous introduction of Siri in the 4S.

Think of all the iOS devices and their searches not being routed through Google by having a very good context sensitive voice recognition interface that routes searches to non Google databases.

Siri is in beta, it's been shown it works on the iP4 and the iPod Touch, I can easily see Apple integrating Siri into iOS 6 for the devices it's not on now. That's a lot of searches Google won't get paid for.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Um, it's selling a ton of iP4S's so they're right, I know a ton of people that are dying to upgrade to it...

You missed page 2 of the article and point 6:

I can't wait till they allow that and some site uses Siri to spam all of the iPhone users contacts.

Even if that article is right it just means Google needs to make sure Android has the vast majority of the smartphone market before Siri develops to the point that it is a threat. Given the current trends that is a possible outcome, neutralise iOS in the same way Windows did Mac OS

 

[Pliablemoose]

my buddy has an ip4s and the only thing he uses siri for is to make it say penis. to quote him "its neat and it works but its not that useful in reality"

its the same wah I feel about androids voice crap. it works and if fin to f with every now and again but basically usless for anything I do day to day

Once again, Anubis, you have no time for Apple products, you'll never buy one and you make fun of your friends who dare buy one. I'm seeing a ton of iPads out in the wild, I see 2-3 people every day carrying them in the cafeteria at work now, and I see a ton of them in the hospital waiting areas.

You guys aren't objective in your condemning of Siri.

Do I need to link y'all back to the original iPad and iPhone threads?

How does it feel to be so wrong?

 

[badb0y]

The thing with Siri is, what it does, it does REALLY damn good.

Overall there are still limitations but if Apple/Google develop and work with this idea they can do some pretty amazing stuff in the coming years.

 

[Anubis]

Once again, Anubis, you have no time for Apple products, you'll never buy one and you make fun of your friends who dare buy one. I'm seeing a ton of iPads out in the wild, I see 2-3 people every day carrying them in the cafeteria at work now, and I see a ton of them in the hospital waiting areas.

You guys aren't objective in your condemning of Siri.

Do I need to link y'all back to the original iPad and iPhone threads?

How does it feel to be so wrong?

i dont make fun of my friends, i give them a gentle ribbing, but you are right will never own an apple product again because they offer me nothing

however simply commenting that i find all voice stuff useless is not a slam on apple, its a slam on voice to text. i even dislike it on the computer, its easier and faster to just type everything vs use whatever the latest version of Dragon is. and anyway my buddy said that and he loves apple, he just doesn't see the use in voice to text and neither do i


as per your ipad comment i can still count on 1 hand the number ive seen in the wild. same with android tablets, and as for phones blackberry believe it or not still dominates out here where i live like 10:1 over both apple and android

where i work its prob 40% BB, 30% android, 5 % IOS and 25% dumb phone

 

[SlitheryDee]

Siri isn't going to kill anything so long as its exclusive to the 4s. Make it available for every iPhone and iPad that can run it and they'll be getting somewhere.

 

[Mopetar]

We don't. Its the claiming that 'Siri will kill Android' and the 'Apple invented voice recognition' and the 'voice recognition is a killer feature' statements that infuriate people. Because they're blatant falsehoods. All part of Apple's reality distortion field.

It's more part of the sensationalist link-bait field. People still write articles about the imminent doom of Apple for the same reason for the same reason. Don't get some worked up over new articles like this and you'll probably be a happier person.

 

[Mopetar]

So, what you're saying here is that Google basically has a ~3 year head start over Apple? You know, since they've gathering the same data for far longer, using proprietary algorithms too.

Google could for all I know. Then again I have no idea how seriously they've taken their efforts. They might have got it working and gone on to focus on other projects instead of tuning their algorithms. For that matter I don't know much about the long term history of either project or the teams that have been working on them. It probably wouldn't be too hard to find out which team has been working on its respective project for longer, but I'm not even sure how well that translates into any kind of meaningful information.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

I don't think Android users really get it.

I had a Droid Incredible for the last two years and I can wholeheartedly tell you Google's voice implementation is nowhere near Siri.

It's all about spit, polish, and integration into the OS. Apple understands this better than anyone else in the game, which is why they are always going to be the cream of the crop. When you make quality your #1 priority everywhere, it really does make all the difference.

I will never go back to Android ever again now that I have an iphone4s. There is simply no comparison in my mind.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I don't think Android users really get it.

I had a Droid Incredible for the last two years and I can wholeheartedly tell you Google's voice implementation is nowhere near Siri.

It's all about spit, polish, and integration into the OS. Apple understands this better than anyone else in the game, which is why they are always going to be the cream of the crop. When you make quality your #1 priority everywhere, it really does make all the difference.

I will never go back to Android ever again now that I have an iphone4s. There is simply no comparison in my mind.

If it is so good why couldn't you back up your claims in your previous thread?

IMO a device incapable of attaching multiple files to an email doesn't even deserve to be called a smartphone. Even attaching a single file on iOS is a hack job at best.

 

[Spoooon]

I don't think Android users really get it.

I had a Droid Incredible for the last two years and I can wholeheartedly tell you Google's voice implementation is nowhere near Siri.

It's all about spit, polish, and integration into the OS. Apple understands this better than anyone else in the game, which is why they are always going to be the cream of the crop. When you make quality your #1 priority everywhere, it really does make all the difference.

I will never go back to Android ever again now that I have an iphone4s. There is simply no comparison in my mind.

Why the needless generalizing? 4S is pretty sweet, but it's not perfect and it's not some god phone or something.


Sent from my HP Touchpad using Tapatalk

 

[MagickMan]

This isn't really a jab, but why do so many people underestimate Apple so much. Is it just the Apple hate?

I find it curious. Apple comes out with something, most people really like it, fans of other platforms say it isn't anything special, and then Apple goes on to make huge bank from it. Seriously, this happens almost every time. It's like this massive blind spot.

I own and like devices from both platforms and I guess I just don't get it.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

99.99% of the people bashing Apple are people who have never seriously used an Apple product.

 

[vshah]

siri/apple should be credited for the nice interface, the amount of commands/natural language it will recognize, and linking in to 3rd party apps/databases (all hardcoded links at this point though).

but its all an evolution of voice search, nothing revolutionary.

it does seem that apple is always the one taking existing features and making them into "the sexy"

wish google would have some foresight in these matters.