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How long do you expect Siri to be in Beta?

Mad Mac Maniac

Mad Mac Maniac

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 4, 2007
4,802
2,109
A little bit of here and a little bit of there.
Siri is one of the longest-running, and certainly the most featured/advertised, betas that Apple has ever released to the public.

This is much more of a Google move than an Apple one. How much longer do you predict Siri will be in beta. By October of this year (at the latest) all iOS devices sold will come with Siri. Plus there have been thoughts/rumors that Siri will make her way to the Mac with 10.9.

I know "Beta" is just a label, and removing the word will add no functionality to the service, but I'm just wondering what specifically Apple is waiting for? Is it waiting till it's 100% reliable? Till it has an API released to Devs? Till it is across all platforms (Mac, iOS, including Apple TV)? Till its released is enough countries/languages? I get the feeling that the day Apple removes the "Beta" from Siri is the day that we understand the real future that Apple sees in Siri.
 
VulchR

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2009
3,383
14,254
Scotland
Perhaps when full, comprehensive services are available internationally rather than just the US. Judging form the rather incomplete and inaccurate state of iOS maps here in Scotland, it might be awhile. Certainly corrections to iOS Maps errors in my area do not seem to be a priority for Apple or its partners. Also, I wonder if Siri will be considered a final version when the voice recognition is done locally on the iPhone rather than over a network.

In this regard, I get the impression that Apple's attention flits from feature to feature, and that nobody seems to be pushing for a holistic notion of quality control. I suspect that Apple has only an A-team of programmers who are spread too thin, when a perfectly good B-team could tidy up some of the minor errors.
 
bonskovsky

bonskovsky

macrumors 6502
Dec 31, 2012
453
2
Mad Mac Maniac said:
Siri is one of the longest-running, and certainly the most featured/advertised, betas that Apple has ever released to the public.

This is much more of a Google move than an Apple one. How much longer do you predict Siri will be in beta. By October of this year (at the latest) all iOS devices sold will come with Siri. Plus there have been thoughts/rumors that Siri will make her way to the Mac with 10.9.

I know "Beta" is just a label, and removing the word will add no functionality to the service, but I'm just wondering what specifically Apple is waiting for? Is it waiting till it's 100% reliable? Till it has an API released to Devs? Till it is across all platforms (Mac, iOS, including Apple TV)? Till its released is enough countries/languages? I get the feeling that the day Apple removes the "Beta" from Siri is the day that we understand the real future that Apple sees in Siri.
Click to expand...

Siri will always be in beta. This is because it is a consistently updating service. What you're seeing is the final product. If it was in conventional, closed beta, it would be only released to a few people. But it's open beta, which means that it's fully released.
 
Dwalls90

Dwalls90

macrumors 603
Feb 5, 2009
5,427
4,413
I love all things Apple, and Siri sucks.

It's nice that compared to Google Now it can do system wide functions like setting a reminder or the timer, but it's SLOW, UNRELIABLE and INACCURATE.

It takes way longer than Google Now to do just about anything.

It often says "cannot connect, even when on WiFi or LTE.

It often can never interpret what I say, or suggests odd things.

I REALLY hope that Tim Cook came down hard so that Siri can be buffed up significantly in iOS 7, because the "improvements" in iOS 6 were lame.
 
P

pugnut

macrumors 6502a
Jul 1, 2007
809
0
When they are confident people will not sue based on a bad or incorrect response provided by SIRI.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Dwalls90 said:
I love all things Apple, and Siri sucks.

It's nice that compared to Google Now it can do system wide functions like setting a reminder or the timer, but it's SLOW, UNRELIABLE and INACCURATE.

It takes way longer than Google Now to do just about anything.

It often says "cannot connect, even when on WiFi or LTE.

It often can never interpret what I say, or suggests odd things.

I REALLY hope that Tim Cook came down hard so that Siri can be buffed up significantly in iOS 7, because the "improvements" in iOS 6 were lame.
Click to expand...

I never had a problem setting timers and reminders in Google Now. Screenshots from a stock Nexus 10 with pure Android.

uqarupa2.jpg


e3ydesaz.jpg


I do however prefer Siri to Google Now. Although I feel Google Now can translate a bit better I feel Siri knows what I'm saying better....if that makes any sense. I rarely get those nice cards with GN I just get a google search.
 
M

Mrg02d

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2012
1,102
2
Siri works for me...I love being able to set reminders for when I arrive somewhere.
 
S

Smartass

macrumors 65816
Dec 18, 2012
1,450
1,701
Siri in "Beta" is just an excuse from Apple so they could put out a shi-ty service and then say "It's in beta, thats why it isnt' working properly".
 
S

solarguy17

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2007
738
183
I'm pretty sure Tim or someone officially took it out of beta at the iOS 6 keynote.
But regardless I always loved Siri, I very rarely have a problem with it. What I don't like is that Siri doesn't work if you don't have a net connection. That sucks for this that you should need Internet for.
 
Hastings101

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,339
1,460
K
Probably forever, it's a good excuse for when things go wrong heh. Remember how long Gmail was in beta?
 
Dwalls90

Dwalls90

macrumors 603
Feb 5, 2009
5,427
4,413
cynics said:
I never had a problem setting timers and reminders in Google Now. Screenshots from a stock Nexus 10 with pure Android.

Image

Image

I do however prefer Siri to Google Now. Although I feel Google Now can translate a bit better I feel Siri knows what I'm saying better....if that makes any sense. I rarely get those nice cards with GN I just get a google search.
Click to expand...

Oh wow that's cool I didn't realize it could do that. I thought it was just for search/info based functions.
 
NT1440

NT1440

macrumors G5
May 18, 2008
14,670
21,048
Smartass said:
Siri in "Beta" is just an excuse from Apple so they could put out a shi-ty service and then say "It's in beta, thats why it isnt' working properly".
Click to expand...

Yup, cuz apple is famous for blaming issues on beta software and all their PR emphasizes that Siri is a beta :rolleyes:

I for one am excited for Siri coming to the mac in 10.9
 
rbrian

rbrian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2011
784
342
Aberdeen, Scotland
Until it gets it right more than 1 time in 100. I spent 40 minutes today trying to get directions, before I gave up and just followed the signposts. At least Apple now has recordings of me saying the exact same thing at least 50 times in various states of calmness and screamingly angry. Of course, that might not help much, since Siri guessed about 30 different interpretations of what I was saying, not a single one correct.
 
A

Aniseedvan

macrumors 65816
May 14, 2012
1,251
402
UK
I'm not fussed by the 'beta' label but it disappoints me we appear to ge one step forwards on some updates and one step backwards on others.
I use mine in the car every night to add things into omnifocus. By virtue of my environment I'm wearing a Bluetooth headset and my phone is typically in the boot. If Siri misheard my reminders list it has spoken them out loud for me to pick one. Last night it reverted to just saying you have these and inferring I need to tap on one..
Same with the weather, that hops from telling me to just displaying it.
At least "reading" and writing texts works properly which is one thing I could never get to work on my galaxy s2 (admittedly pre google now).
 
ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
I think after with iOS 7 / OS 10.9, after WWDC, it will loose Beta Status.

And I couldn't resist and asked her directly (she didn't understood me saying "beta"; counting that against myself :( )

SiriBeta.png

She don't know either ... :rolleyes:
 
Italianblend

Italianblend

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,794
247
Fatima
Apple's main marketing ploy for the 4S was Siri. In Beta. 1.4 years later, and not much improvements.

They really pushed the 4S marketing on Siri. It's as if the phone had nothing else new to offer and they needed some sort of selling point.

Siri has not been improved much at all and it's pretty frustrating. But as long as we all keep buying apple products, they will think they're doing a good job.
 
SAD*FACED*CLOWN

SAD*FACED*CLOWN

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2010
1,342
1
Houston, TX
Siri works fine for me and in a timely fashion....the only time she's had trouble understanding me is pronouncing someone's name...she know all my family members and where I work and reads my texts with 100% accuracy
 
G

globalist

macrumors 6502a
Aug 19, 2009
748
264
Italianblend said:
Apple's main marketing ploy for the 4S was Siri. In Beta. 1.4 years later, and not much improvements.

They really pushed the 4S marketing on Siri. It's as if the phone had nothing else new to offer and they needed some sort of selling point.

Siri has not been improved much at all and it's pretty frustrating. But as long as we all keep buying apple products, they will think they're doing a good job.
Click to expand...

I have a gut feeling the upper management at Apple has by now completely and conveniently forgot they even left the beta sticker on Siri. :D
 
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