Apple Working on Amazon Echo Competitor, Opening Siri Up to Developers

[ozziegn]

I'm shaking my head as I read this article. Why? Because I'm looking at this idea from Apple as yet another "new" gizmo from Apple that does nothing for my tastebuds. I say this because I can officially say in my opinion that SIRI sucks. I haven't used SIRI in who knows how long. Instead I use the Google with voice recognition app that hardly ever lets me down. All SIRI says is, "hold on while I look that up for you".

Blah......

 

[shiseiryu1]

Why do they need stand alone hardware?

If they give Siri the same functionality across the Watch, iPhone, iPad, Mac and TV, most people will have a device than runs Siri to hand.

...and for those who don't own any Apple products, what will this new device do that entices them to buy?

I agree with this. Also if I have Siri listening all the time I don't want to say "Hey Siri" or any junk like that. I want to say, "Computer"...and have it make the noise like in Star Trek.

 

[kwikdeth]

They were pretty much first to the market with a touchscreen phone. No one else was doing touchscreen phones.

what I think you mean is multi-touch. touchscreen phones had already been on the market for some time.

 

[palmerc]

Only shipped over 3 million of them as of last month, and 37k pluse 4.4 average reviews. Not sure how you define "very many".

3 million is nothing in terms of a global electronics product and this isn't even a global product, it's a US only product.
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I agree with this. Also if I have Siri listening all the time I don't want to say "Hey Siri" or any junk like that. I want to say, "Computer"...and have it make the noise like in Star Trek.

The Mac already does that. It's under accessibility and the keyword Computer is the default

 

[Seiga]

<--- joint date. i love when people on here who have been around for three years act like experts and accuse me of not knowing what im talking about. i dont claim to know everything, but what I do have is memory. if apple was a start-up they would be getting torn apart in the tech press for some of their antics these days.

Congratulations on showing your "Joint date". Is that the day you smoked out or something? You sound like you're baked based on how you're typing. Might want to check your memory while you're at it.

BTW, I do consider myself an expert.... Being a full-stack mobile developer (iOS, Android, Web). Just cause I don't flaunt posts since 2003 doesn't mean I don't know anything. Not sure that is something you want to brag.

 

[nt5672]

. . . .
Apple isn't trying to entertain you, they are instead continuing to build a stable robust ecosystem that continues to grow over time based on user needs and the technology landscape.

Excellent, now if they could only put out some software that mostly works the first time for most people. You have to ask yourself why are they staffing up the Apple stores. I guess the "it just works" is broke.

 

[GDF]

I totally agree. Almost everything they are coming out with now is a ME TOO", but with the Apple Spin on it. Steve Jobs would be sick of what Apple is becoming. Come on Apple innovate something, be first at something that is truly creative again. I am an Apple Fanboy, but just want to see some creativity again.

apple has become a "ME TOO" company. They are so boring lately.

 

[Seiga]

They were pretty much first to the market with a touchscreen phone. No one else was doing touchscreen phones.

Wrong. Microsoft & Palm were first with touchscreen phones.

 

[bighype]

How did Apple fall so far behind in all these tech areas? While Apple makes amazing hardware, their software is a joke.

I'm sure Apple's version of Echo or Home Assistant will look better but the "brains" of it will suck. Just like Siri sucks.

Until Apple gets serious about AI, they will be in last place when it comes to smart devices.

 

[palmerc]

Wrong. Microsoft & Palm were first with touchscreen phones.

Then you start needing to define touchscreen phone.

The iPhone is the first fully functional keyboard-less touchscreen phone that anyone cared about and changed the entire cell phone market into the mobile computing market. So I think you can safely say first with a touchscreen phone. You could also say they were the first to make a touchscreen anything that didn't drive you up a wall within the first 5 seconds of interaction

 

[oliversl]

I hope this product is not under that Adobe Flash guy

 

[palmerc]

How did Apple fall so far behind in all these tech areas? While Apple makes amazing hardware, their software is a joke.

I'm sure Apple's version of Echo or Home Assistant will look better but the "brains" of it will suck. Just like Siri sucks.

Until Apple gets serious about AI, they will be in last place when it comes to smart devices.

Clearly you don't interact with Windows very much.

 

[usersince86]

Let's just hope it's thinner. Evidently, that's the key to everything!

 

[dtich]

apple has become a "ME TOO" company. They are so boring lately.

no. no. no. siri was always designed to be a core voice access tech. that's why they acquired it. apple has been working on concretizing the underlying ai, it was (albeit in gimped form) included in apple watch; it was added to apple tv; their plan has always been to apply it across the platforms. the next desktop os will include siri as a core tech. they've been planning this for a long time.
so, to say they are a 'me too' company is to miss the actual fact that they are first with many ideas, but then take their time to perfect (and i use that word advisedly) them. what actually happens is other companies see where apple is headed and blow up mountains of dynamite to try to beat them to the pass. the 'me too's are usually the other guys. to be sure.

 

[thingstoponder]

apple has become a "ME TOO" company. They are so boring lately.

It says they were working on it before the Echo.

Read sometime.

 

[Sofabutt]

Apple is actively developing a product that would compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home, reports The Information. Citing a source with direct knowledge of Apple's plans, the report suggests Apple is working on a Siri-based device that would include a speaker and microphone that could be used for features like listening to music, getting news headlines, and more.

In addition to developing such a device, Apple is planning to improve Siri by opening the voice assistant up to outside developers. Apple is said to be preparing to release a Siri software development kit that would allow developers to make their apps and their app content accessible through Siri voice commands. Apple plans to require developers to use the tool responsibly.

Opening Siri up to third-party developers will go a long way towards expanding the capabilities of Apple's virtual assistant. Right now, Siri only works with a handful of apps like OpenTable and Yelp, and Apple has been hesitant to develop a Siri API and improve Siri's functionality because of privacy concerns.

According to The Information, a Siri SDK could be introduced as soon as WWDC, meaning third-party Siri access would be built into iOS 10 and perhaps OS X 10.12, which is also rumored to be gaining Siri support.

Both Amazon and Google have developed robust in-home personal assistant devices built around their respective AI platforms, which Apple hopes to compete with. The products are able to perform a wide range of features, from giving weather reports and answering queries to controlling smart home devices like light bulbs and thermostats. The Amazon Echo has been well-received, and Google's Home product, just announced at Google I/O, supports similar features.

Apple has reportedly been working on an Echo competitor since before the Echo debuted last year, and it will perhaps include features like a speaker, Internet access, and the ability to control HomeKit products. It is not known when Apple will be ready to debut its home accessory or how it will fit into the company's existing product lineup.

Article Link: Apple Working on Amazon Echo Competitor, Opening Siri Up to Developers

 

[bluespark]

I really wish Apple made the Apple TV a centralized hub for HomeKit. There's no reason why I can't control my Hue lights among other enabled devices via my 4th Gen Apple TV.

It is and you can.

 

[Sofabutt]

Don't bother Apple: Siri is pathetic.

 

[2010mini]

that's the thing - they are only arguably delivering on that. you used to be able to count on them hitting it out of the park, or at the very least, fixing it quickly. 2016 Apple everything feels like a permanent beta test.

The margin for any company today "hitting it out of the park" is extremely hard given consumer's attitudes today.

I'll give you?examples.... If you ask, a lot of people think the Apple Watch is a failure. But in reality it soundly beat all other smart watches in it category. That tech publications have to resort to comparing it to fitness trackers like Fitbit which sells as much units as the Apple Watch.

Even the 5C, which outsold all other flagship models, is deemed a failure.

Your expectations are artificially high and you are all going to be disappointed every time.

 

[Seiga]

Then you start needing to define touchscreen phone.

The iPhone is the first fully functional keyboard-less touchscreen phone that anyone cared about and changed the entire cell phone market into the mobile computing market. So I think you can safely say first with a touchscreen phone. You could also say they were the first to make a touchscreen anything that didn't drive you up a wall within the first 5 seconds of interaction

What's there to define? I can use my fingers to touch the screen of an IPAQ and click the start button. If you want to say that Apple was the first to feature a multi-touch device, then you have something. And it wasn't the first fully functional keyboardless touch screen. The fore-mentioned IPaq had a digital keyboard as well. You just had to use the stylus instead of your finger cause the buttons were too small. Caring about something is a feeling and isn't quantitative. You can't measure "caring". But you can measure the facts. Windows community "Cared" for the IPAQ I suppose.

Now if you just bring up the change in the market, then yes, Apple has done that. No one can refute that.

 

[palmerc]

It is and you can.

Hue uses Zigbee light link not Bluetooth smart. Elgato provides several home products that function exactly that way using Bluetooth and leveraging the Apple TV
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What's there to define? I can use my fingers to touch the screen of an IPAQ and click the start button. If you want to say that Apple was the first to feature a multi-touch device, then you have something. And it wasn't the first fully functional keyboardless touch screen. The fore-mentioned IPaq had a digital keyboard as well. You just had to use the stylus instead of your finger cause the buttons were too small. Caring about something is a feeling and isn't quantitative. You can't measure "caring". But you can measure the facts. Windows community "Cared" for the IPAQ I suppose.

Now if you just bring up the change in the market, then yes, Apple has done that. No one can refute that.

Jeez. Really an iPaq... That thing was terrible and could only be really used, if that is what we call frustration, with the stylus.

As I said, cared about, not 1 guy in my office had one and it was so bad they didn't even keep it for more than 6 months

 

[0029937]

3 million is nothing in terms of a global electronics product and this isn't even a global product, it's a US only product.
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The Mac already does that. It's under accessibility and the keyword Computer is the default

If that Computer trick works even when my MBP goes to sleep after a episode off Plex running between Apple TV and MPB that would be so awesome.

 

[palmerc]

If that Computer trick works even when my MBP goes to sleep after a episode off Plex running between Apple TV and MPB that would be so awesome.

I'm guessing it will get Siri next month, but for now you can say things like Computer Start Dictation and have it transcribe things. The dictation is really quite good
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what I think you mean is multi-touch. touchscreen phones had already been on the market for some time.

I think what he means is touch, as in, finger only, with multi-touch, but that is The Touchscreen. Before single touch stylus driven systems were largely engineering novelties

 

[Seiga]

no. no. no. siri was always designed to be a core voice access tech. that's why they acquired it. apple has been working on concretizing the underlying ai, it was (albeit in gimped form) included in apple watch; it was added to apple tv; their plan has always been to apply it across the platforms. the next desktop os will include siri as a core tech. they've been planning this for a long time.
so, to say they are a 'me too' company is to miss the actual fact that they are first with many ideas, but then take their time to perfect (and i use that word advisedly) them. what actually happens is other companies see where apple is headed and blow up mountains of dynamite to try to beat them to the pass. the 'me too's are usually the other guys. to be sure.

Here's the argument to that. When has apple really perfected anything as of recent? Take Apple Maps for instance. It was released to horrid reviews. Turns not updating properly or sending you to BFE. Fast-forward to today, it's still not even close to Google Maps and Waze when it comes to accuracy of traffic patterns and route optimization. I know you used the term advisedly, but when you look at the Home automation market, Google should dominate. Why? 16 years of data mining and collecting. If I were apple, and if you want to perfect the system, you build the hardware and internal software, but you cave in and utilize api licensing for Google Search to optimize responses and requests from the home device. Tack on a premium price and watch the profits.

 

[Karma*Police]

I don't see the need for an Echo-like device when Apple can achieve the same thing by enabling the same functionality across all their devices, not just the 6S. Why scream across the room when I can just talk into my Apple Watch?

I think what Apple needs is a robust, easy to use HomeKit end user app that other HomeKit devs can tap into via extensions. Right now, home automation doesn't feel very cohesive.

Siri SDK... It's about time!