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Apple VP Phil Schiller Implies Voice-Activated Smart Speakers Could Benefit From a Screen
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Here you go...If they make a standalone device with a screen, it will be extremely expensive, not to mention redundant. Can you imagine an iMac Mini???
Good guy Schiller living in its own Apple bubble unable to find something nice in competitor's hardware. Shocker! If Apple did not invented it, it must be crap.
These Apple execs are so full of themselves, persuaded only Apple can solve all the problems of the world. It is almost touching.
These Apple execs are so full of themselves, persuaded only Apple can solve all the problems of the world. It is almost touching.
Indeed it is.
But perhaps this is where Apple excels. Tweak the basic concept of an Apple iOS device into a new form factor.
This is what they did with iPad.
This is what they did with the Watch.
Take ecosystem.. the software.. and put into a new package, that sits 'in-between' existing products, but perhaps as a specific use-case that gives it its own heading on the webpage, and marketing spiel.
This is all starting to give plausibility to an Apple Home device, that sits in-between the iPhone/iPad, Apple TV and an airplay speaker.. with Siri.. a screen.. and perhaps become the automation hub that Apple TV hasn't. It just needs one more USP... particularly with the rival hub products already out there doing well. Perhaps it'll just be the speaker quality... really high-end speaker components, that rival all existing wireless speaker systems. That might entice the high-end audio fans into the product, and of course give justification to the inevitable premium price-tag Apple will stick on this thing!
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Exactly!
It's a "whole new product category" that "Apple invented"
This is Phil not getting it. Alexa works because the user is home. As soon as you step out of the house you risk being rude and annoying. For the car, where it's ok to talk to yourself, there is some value for a screen. On the street, in an elevator, in a cubicle, on the bus? These are places where it is never ok to use a voice assistant. Screen or no screen. At home though, where no one cares if you say the same thing five times, voice assistance works.
But the real reason none of this crap is any good is because people don't actually speak correctly. We say the wrong name or word all the time. Teach siri how to tell when I've corrected myself. Make sure she understands the difference between when I pause to think and when I'm actually done. Filler words like, um, hmm, yeah, like, and uhh shouldn't be an issue. Siri doesn't understand what I'm saying because she expects me to talk like a robot; it's not natural to always be purposeful, linear, and consistant.
But the real reason none of this crap is any good is because people don't actually speak correctly. We say the wrong name or word all the time. Teach siri how to tell when I've corrected myself. Make sure she understands the difference between when I pause to think and when I'm actually done. Filler words like, um, hmm, yeah, like, and uhh shouldn't be an issue. Siri doesn't understand what I'm saying because she expects me to talk like a robot; it's not natural to always be purposeful, linear, and consistant.
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Voice-Activated Smart Speakers Could Benefit From a Screen
...and a label saying "iPad"?
In other news, perhaps the iPhone could have benefitted from a proper keyboard, a numeric keypad, a toothpick stylus, a jog wheel a joypad and half-a-dozen specialised buttons around the bezel. I had that phone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN) and it was a usability train wreck - a classic case of "jack of all trades, master of none". Instead, the iPhone took the concept of "touch screen, home button, full stop" and challenged Apple and third party developers to make that work well.
So, Apple, if you're going to copy Amazon and Google and do a smart speaker, the point is to make voice control do everything as well as it can - hands free and with your back turned. If it needs a screen, you're holding it wrong.
Or, do what you're supposed to be good at and make Siri work seamlessly across Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, AppleTV, HomeKit etc. so you can ask your watch to turn on your iPad and display the cookie recipe while your AppleTV streams Carpool Karaoke to your TV and the Apple Electric Monk sits on the sofa and watches it for you...
...and a label saying "iPad"?
In other news, perhaps the iPhone could have benefitted from a proper keyboard, a numeric keypad, a toothpick stylus, a jog wheel a joypad and half-a-dozen specialised buttons around the bezel. I had that phone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN) and it was a usability train wreck - a classic case of "jack of all trades, master of none". Instead, the iPhone took the concept of "touch screen, home button, full stop" and challenged Apple and third party developers to make that work well.
So, Apple, if you're going to copy Amazon and Google and do a smart speaker, the point is to make voice control do everything as well as it can - hands free and with your back turned. If it needs a screen, you're holding it wrong.
Or, do what you're supposed to be good at and make Siri work seamlessly across Mac, iPad, iPhone, Watch, AppleTV, HomeKit etc. so you can ask your watch to turn on your iPad and display the cookie recipe while your AppleTV streams Carpool Karaoke to your TV and the Apple Electric Monk sits on the sofa and watches it for you...
Now stick a tripod on the back, charge $899 and they'll make you a VP at Apple.
Until and if Siri performance takes a big step up Apple is just spinning its wheels.
Maybe in the minds of true fans, but for Apple as a company it's pretty clear iPhone is the king it bows to and everything else is its subject. Institutional investors have bought into this because alll they care about is valuations and dividends. So Apple only needs for the iPhone 8 to reasonably match the rumors and also have actual units to sell at launch, not some huge backorder log from the 2nd minute on and reaching out more than a couple weeks.
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Yes, but why wouldn't you do this this on your computer or phone? When I'm looking for train/bus times it's either that I'm planning the next day or getting ready to leave. In either case I'm already at my computer or my iPhone is I'm my pocket. I don't see where an Echo+screen would be more beneficial than a computer in this case -- either one you have to go to the screen. The computer or phone you already have. The Echo+screen is something else to buy. It's very different than the speaker/mic only Echo that you use to bark commands and questions at.
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Samsung is selling lots of units. Apple has three times more revenue and about 50 times more profit. Actually, if you take away Apple's iPhone sales, the rest of the company beats Samsung mobile in every way.
MS winning the laptop war? You are seriously deluded. MS laptop revenues are down by 26% and are less than Apple Watch. Tiny compared to iPad revenue, and tiny compared to Apple MacBook revenue.
I'm sure Siri would agree with them. She's become a sad 5 year old "smart" assistant herself.
Curious to see how Apple plans to one-up the competition here, because I honestly think they have nothing better to give. He basically mentions a home device that has voice only capabilities to be best assisted alongside a screen, which I can see solving things like asking your device to "look up a recipe for apple pie" and being able to see the ingredients on a screen, etc. however that's not revolutionary, and Amazon's alleged flagship home device will have the same feature.
Seriously though, if they're banking on Siri, while some people are fine with that, it's not exactly better than anything else. To the average consumer the device it's just going to be less compatible.
Seriously though, if they're banking on Siri, while some people are fine with that, it's not exactly better than anything else. To the average consumer the device it's just going to be less compatible.
A phone, a music player, and an internet communication device.
A phone, a music player, and an internet communication device.
A phone, a music player, and an internet communication device.
A phone, a music player, and an internet communication device.
A phone, a music player, and an internet communication device.
Samsung's flagship phones don't even scratch the surface of iPhone sales. Essentially, to beat that, Apple would need to start making $25 phones and it will never happen.
MS is not winning a laptop war if you're referring to Surface laptop. It's the closest you'll find to a 13" MBP but you're going to be stepping backwards into proprietary power connectors and NO USB Type C.
This "years of stagnation" is all in your head, perhaps you need to look at sales charts?
I think this should be YOUR POGO year. If Apple continues to thrive, get out.
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The guys that created Siri aren't working for the competition, either. Siri is slow to grow but there have been some huge leaps since the last upgrade.
Display/video augmentation (with voice of course) for a *dedicated* compact at-home personal assistant makes a ton of sense. And could go very far. There are many real-life situations where seeing images or a visual display of information makes more sense than simply hearing a voice response.
Of course many here will just say, "Gee, isn't that what a computer/iPhone/etc can already do?" That's what happens when people are so consumed with a bash-first attitude, rather than imagining the possibilities.
Of course many here will just say, "Gee, isn't that what a computer/iPhone/etc can already do?" That's what happens when people are so consumed with a bash-first attitude, rather than imagining the possibilities.
Is this Phil not getting it too? http://hothardware.com/news/amazon-leak-reveals-fireos-based-touch-screen-echo-ai-speaker
Surface sales (ALL products, not just the Surface Pro) DOWN 26% year over year, to $831 million.
Apple Mac Sales for the SAME PERIOD:$7.244 BEELION. 8 TIMES that of the Surface LINE.
Apple iPad Sales for the SAME PERIOD: $5.33 BEELION. 6 TIMES that of the Surface LINE.
Combined Mac + iPad sales for ONE QUARTER (Q1 2017) : $12.55 BEELION, or FIFTEEN TIMES that of the ENTIRE SURFACE LINE.
Keep in mind that those Surface products are aimed SQUARELY at the Apple products I mentioned. If you have any doubt, just watch the half-dozen or so Surface Pro "I can't do that on my Mac" commercials...
Yeah, Apple's Doomed. Doomed, I tell ya...
The problem is Phil, siri is **** and almost always points users to look at the screen!
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I don't know what code your devices are running, but I have found that Siri does a pretty good job of "um" and other non-word utterances filtering.