Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Hires Former AltaVista and Amazon Search Exec to Run Siri Unit
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
i give up, and turned off Siri and map services (battery problem)
----------
honestly that would be very unpractical if samsung displays those infos as vertically
Take the marbles out of your mouth. Would you use a mouse without cleaning out the lint?
It looks like you are wrong.
(http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/24/apples-iphone-sales-in-china-are-up-by-fivefold-from-a-year-ago/)
Hopefully one day Apple will make every thing we need in our lives, and also have patents for it, so we won't be bothered with nuisances such as competition.
At ipedro and his novel idea of how to have Siri tackle search,
I won't quote it here as I do not want to flood an entire page (see post 47), and I don't see anyone discussing it, nor do I know how feasible it may be, but I agree with you fully about one of the flaws of google - it doesn't always give a straight and direct response to very basic and elementary questions. That's one thing I like about Siri - you ask a simple question, you get a simple and relevant answer.
Will be interesting to see what they cook up for iOS7.
I won't quote it here as I do not want to flood an entire page (see post 47), and I don't see anyone discussing it, nor do I know how feasible it may be, but I agree with you fully about one of the flaws of google - it doesn't always give a straight and direct response to very basic and elementary questions. That's one thing I like about Siri - you ask a simple question, you get a simple and relevant answer.
Will be interesting to see what they cook up for iOS7.
Well, i'll be a monkeys uncle...... It will be intresting since these people are (or was) a business
First, Apple hires a former Samsung employee, and now they need "Help" with Siri.
Maybe Apples finally realising this will NEVER come out of Beta, unless we do something drastic.
Hope this means "it will only get better"
It can"t get any worse, can it??
First, Apple hires a former Samsung employee, and now they need "Help" with Siri.
Maybe Apples finally realising this will NEVER come out of Beta, unless we do something drastic.
Hope this means "it will only get better"
It can"t get any worse, can it??
Sadly, that is the mentality of so many on this forum. And many won't even catch the sarcasm.
It's past time to kick Google to the curb as the default iOS search engine. Sorry guys, but it's insanity to rely on a competitor for such a critical component of your platform.
LOL at Google fanboy deriding fanboyism.
Default is fine, even if they change it, just as long the option still exists.
Instead of monetizing Siri like some sort of cheap Adwords campaign, why not improve the product to provide the best value and utility to the consumer, who has already laid down their money for expensive Apple hardware?
I think your view of Apple history is a little bit skewed. The company has a couple of core products which they build services so they can sell more of them. That's it, basically.
Remember that they started off with computers and then with 'laser-like' focus moved into music players, online music stores, retails shops, mobile phones...
I too am of the opinion that since everything is information-based, for APPLE to thrive longterm, they MUST enter the search-engine business, sooner, rather than later. It is imperative for APPLE's continued long term success. GOOGLE has a huge advantage here, and if APPLE does not compete in this arena, they will be relegated to second class status by becoming more and more dependent on GOOGLE, ALPHA-WOLFRAM, YAHOO et all; not a good long-term strategy.
Apple products already are stagnant and overpriced. But since Apple is a substitute religion for most of its customers, it doesn't really matter.
That being said, Apple won't enter the search business. Search is much more complex than Maps, and we all know how Apple failed at that one.
Megalomania and arrogance seem to work well in marketing, but in this case, those two treats are not enough - you also need a working product. And a working product is something that also works outside of Cupertino.
My dad is from PA, I speak like him and make sure to enunciate clearly with Siri. Sometimes I accidentally say things like "wanna", "gonna" etc. and she has issues with that but it's also not proper English.
I know people with heavy Scottish accents, for example, have trouble with Siri, but if humans have trouble understanding them speak, then so will voice recognition software. Overall though, if you don't have an accent then maybe you're using it wrong.
Look, 90% of the people I know who try to use it (let's say 9 out of 10 people I know with an iPhone) have given up on it. You try to send a text and if it's 2 lines long, she only gets 1/2 of one line. You try to say a name and she never gets it. You try to launch a program and she doesn't realize you have it. You ask for the damn weather in NYC and she gets it wrong. You ask for the score of a game and 4 times out of 5 she will give it to you but 1 time she won't know what to do (yet the text recognized by her is exactly the same). Sometimes you wait 10-15 seconds for the server to recognize your request.
The whole point is it is supposed to make life easier. It doesn't do it. There's a reason 9 of the 10 people I know who have Siri never use her. No way they are all inept or unable to use the functionality. Plus, haven't we seen lots of reports that the vast majority of Siri's use is to send texts? I think they need to fix this...
Apple: "We have revolutionized search. You make a query either via Siri or keyboard and we will show you results from what the keen minds at Apple believe you meant and should see. No more will you have to bother with information that wasn't curated by us. Because - let's face it - if we haven't approved the message - how can you really trust it to be legit?"
Yes, and I don't think he was saying different. Quite the contrary, it's people going "Go Apple!" and "Takedown Google!" that seem to be against competition.
If anything, it would be fun to see Apple take a stab at search (real search, not Siri "never works" gimmick search). Google has had to push themselves pretty much alone in this segment. They haven't stood still, a lot of improvements have gone into their search engine, but maybe a little real competition could really push this service to higher levels.
You answered your own question: They have already laid down their money.
That being said, Apple has every incentive to improve the product, as it will inspire the consumer to lay down even MORE money.
And there is no binary choice here. Apple can, should and will monetize Siri with consumer tracking, AND they will add capabilities in order to get more sales and more profits by inspiring repeat purchases by their customers.
While I've been using Siri for only three days, she responds immediately, has only once not understood a word (which, ironically, was "Siri") and has found restaurants for me, checked the weather in other cities, launched apps, created my shopping lists, and set up lots of reminders.
Truthfully, I was stunned that she even worked in my low population area (AT&T just added 3G about a month ago). For what it's worth, am using the service on my iPod touch 5G and have no complaints.
The way I see it, this has nothing to do with being anti-competition. People just get a kick out of seeing titans rise and fall, just like when you buy a ticket to a football or boxing match and expect to see both sides put up a good fight, and one side getting trashed in the end. That one of the rammifications is possibly fewer choices for consumers all round is not considered here.
