Former Apple Employees Reflect on Siri's 'Squandered Lead' Over Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant

[teknikal90]

Where to begin...

What it fundamentally comes down to is that you are not Google's customer - you are the product being sold. That stands in stark contrast to your relationship with Apple (assuming you have one).

I get that. But like I said above, telcos already know your location. Your ISP already knows your browsing history, UPS already knows your address and the cable company already knows what you watch.
So why are we so concerned that our practically semi-public information is being used to make money, in return for providing good service to us? I wonder if Siri would be as good as Google Assistant if it was never restrained in its data collection.

I'm not arguing that my point of view is right - that is just my initial instinct. I just do not yet understand why people are so up in arms against Google's policies at this point.

 

[Muzzakus]

Without Apple storing your private info server side, Siri will never be able to match supercomputer powered assistants that can traverse and analyse your data. Siri is still borne and never will be in the running.

 

[pierino84]

They keep talking about how lovely now Siri’s voice is. What they don’t seem to catch, is that I want answers to my questions, answers that are provided by alexa and Google assistant while Siri seems the dumber brother. I would prefer a Benny Benassi style voice, over the frustration I feel when my questions are not replied intelligently.

 

[nsayer]

I'm not arguing that my point of view is right - that is just my initial instinct. I just do not yet understand why people are so up in arms against Google's policies at this point.

Perhaps you missed the three articles I linked to that demonstrated Google violating pretty obvious ethical boundaries.

 

[ErikGrim]

The father of Siri is not having it.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

Wow. I forgot how nice IOS used to look...

 

[barkomatic]

Apple does seem to protect privacy, something I value. It is often also used as the reason Siri and other features aren’t as good as the competition. If this is true then personally I’d prefer the Siri problems to loosing more of my privacy. But in my opinion most people will sacrifice privacy for convenience. So it might be a losing business strategy.

How does Siri compromise privacy if it understands a question you are trying to ask and answers it? I guess one could be concerned about questions and answers being sold in aggregate to marketers but that’s a separate issue. Apple could make Siri very useful without needing to compromise your privacy to make it so.

 

[CordovaLark]

Apple has 211 jobs focused on Siri. Amazon has 278 jobs just focused on Machine Learning in regards to Alexa. Over 1,100 jobs overall.

That says it all I think.

 

[Bsgreubel]

AND, again, Siri, why can’t I say, “Turn off the kitchen light and the dining room light?”

WHY?

*sigh*

YES YES YES YES
I've always thought this, and thought it would be SO simple to allow Siri to turn off two rooms at once, rather than "Hey Siri, turn off my bedroom light" "Hey Siri, turn off my bathroom light" etc. etc.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Apple has 211 jobs focused on Siri. Amazon has 278 jobs just focused on Machine Learning in regards to Alexa. Over 1,100 jobs overall.

That says it all I think.

Many people here have commented that Siri seems to not have changed since it was first launched, I think it's probably more accurate to say it hasn't improved enough at launch especially compared to Google and Amazon. Apple launched first, and while it had significant limitations it still appeared to be somewhat magical due to being first to launch.

I have no experience with Google, but I use Alexa for smart home stuff. Apple's walled garden worked with iOS because for a long time they were the best and grew the biggest garden in spite of the walls. But that is not the case with this AI stuff. I don't use a LOT of Alexa skills but there is a great variety, enough to find what I want to do.

 

[Bsgreubel]

What a complete BS response from Apple. They should've just said nothing. Siri is the 'world's most popular voice assistant'? There are far more Android devices in use around the world today than iOS devices. Way to repeat an old, tired talking point that was actually accurate in 2011 when the iPhone 4S launched.

Not arguing with you that it was a BS response, but they did say "most popular voice assistant" and I'd say that is mostly true. When I try to explain what Bixby is on a Samsung Galaxy I always say "It's like Siri on an iPhone, you've heard of it right?" and then go into more depth if needed. Everybody knows the name Siri and at least somewhat what she does, as opposed to Alexa, Bixby, Cortana, or Google Assistant. While she isn't the most advanced assistant out there for sure, by name, Siri is the most popular. Not to mention that Siri is available on cheaper and older iPhone's so more people have the option, rather than buying a flagship phone to have Bixby/Google Assistant or buying a smart speaker to have Alexa/Google Assistant

 

[RealityM]

However, watch this portion of the D5 interview with Steve and Bill Gates in 2007.

Walter Mossberg brings up the .Mac service and says how a lot of people feel Apple "hasn't developed it very much" (sound familiar?).
You know what Steve says? He doesn't jump into talking points, he simply says "I couldn't agree with you more".

What a great video thanks for sharing it. Steve said something else which speaks volumes about the problems with Siri and HomePod. He said that "Apple is primarily a software company like Microsoft."

Great hardware without great software does not lead to a great user experience. iPod had it. HomePod doesn't. Siri needs to up her game. So does Tim.

 

[B4U]

And Forstall needs to come back to fix the mess.

 

[usarioclave]

Siri is the difference between AI today and what people think AI is.

 

[Dave FL]

What a complete BS response from Apple. They should've just said nothing. Siri is the 'world's most popular voice assistant'? There are far more Android devices in use around the world today than iOS devices. Way to repeat an old, tired talking point that was actually accurate in 2011 when the iPhone 4S launched.

Seems like the internal secrecy and departmental isolation resulting in inferior progressive developments could give Apple HQ the nickname of “White House West”. I know I’m up for blowing off parts of my complete Apple infrastructure except for the fact forums on ever other manufacturer reveal they are just as bad, for example battery and lockup’s on Galaxy S8 products, and Samsungs typical lack of support. I’ve seriously considered flip phones, the ones that had good voice phone call capability.

 

[Glockworkorange]

The Information has published an in-depth look at how Siri has transitioned from one of Apple's most promising technologies into a "major problem" for the company. The article includes interviews with a dozen former Apple employees who worked on the various teams responsible for the virtual assistant.

The report claims that many of the employees acknowledged for the first time that Apple rushed Siri to be included in the iPhone 4s before the technology was fully ready, resulting in several internal debates over whether to continue patching up the half-baked product or start from scratch.The team working on Siri was overseen by Apple's then iOS chief Scott Forstall, but his attention was reportedly divided by other major projects, including the upcoming launch of Apple Maps. As a result, Forstall enlisted Richard Williamson, who was also managing the Apple Maps project, to head up the Siri team.

According to the report, several former employees said Williamson made a number of decisions that the rest of the Siri team disagreed with, including a plan to improve the assistant's capabilities only once a year.

Williamson, in an emailed response to the report, wrote that it's "completely untrue" that he decided Siri shouldn't be improved continuously.Forstall and Williamson were both fired by Apple in 2012 following the botched launch of Apple Maps on iOS 6. The former employees interviewed said they lamented losing Forstall, who "believed in what they were doing."

Another interesting tidbit is that the Siri team apparently didn't even learn about the HomePod until 2015. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that Apple had developed several speaker prototypes dating back to 2012, but the Siri team presumably didn't know due to Apple's culture of secrecy.The report says that Siri is the main reason the HomePod has "underperformed," and said Siri's capabilities "remain limited compared to the competition," including Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.Some former employees interviewed noted that "while Apple has tried to remake itself as a services company, its core is still product design."

Apple responded to today's report with a statement noting Siri is "the world's most popular voice assistant" and touted "significant advances" to the assistant's performance, scalability, and reliability.The full-length article is a worthwhile read for those interested in learning more about Siri's internal struggles and shortcomings.

The Information: The Seven-Year Itch: How Apple's Marriage to Siri Turned Sour

Article Link: Former Apple Employees Reflect on Siri's 'Squandered Lead' Over Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant

This might be unpopular, but boy I miss the original look of Siri and I guess---what is it---iOS 5? Just has more personality.
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Multiple timers might be useful for cooking, but otherwise it's decent at making reminders, dictating patient notes, replying to email/SMS etc... If you know what it's reliable at and forget using it for anything else it's decent. If you don't have to use your device hands free then it's kinda slower than what you can manually do most of the time anyway.

It's pretty good for dictation, timers, alarms and a fact or three, like the weather (and perhaps home automation). Other than that, not much else.

But really, are any of the "assistants" good for much else? I have multiple Echos, but other than timers and turning the lights on and off and the weather, neither Siri nor Alexa are much in the way of "assistants."
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Siri is the difference between AI today and what people think AI is.

Correct. I don't even think you can call it "AI;" it doesn't learn anything, does it (except for maybe your voice)?

 

[teknikal90]

Perhaps you missed the three articles I linked to that demonstrated Google violating pretty obvious ethical boundaries.

no i read through it. in fact my response that you half-quoted was crafted exactly after reading about what google does, as outlined by your article.
I think the way google collects data (that is already semi-public knowledge anyway), is conducive to development of their products.
Google assistant is amazing because it reads your gmails and know that youre about to board a flight, or have a dinner reservation at 8.
Apple only now is jumping on that train, years late, and is doing so halfheartedly.
Because of their marketing strategy that is defending your make belief privacy.

 

[pratikindia]

I don't believe that Siri is the most popular PA in the world. Google Assistant kicks her ass.

 

[btrach144]

Richard Williamson sounds like a terrible person to work for. Taking none of the blame for producing a crap product. What an idiot.

 

[ErikGrim]

YES YES YES YES
I've always thought this, and thought it would be SO simple to allow Siri to turn off two rooms at once, rather than "Hey Siri, turn off my bedroom light" "Hey Siri, turn off my bathroom light" etc. etc.

I fully agree that you should be able to issue a string of commands, but this particular scenario is easily remedied by setting up a scene. When my wife says “hey siri, goodnight” all the lights in the apartment turns off except for the study, where I’m working (read: gaming).

 

[adamski23]

Siri is like the Kardashians - highly popular but dumb

 

[Xytal]

Man... hearing that maybe, JUST MAYBE, we might have had a Siri App Store... God that just pisses me off. What a bloody waste by Apple.

Best we can hope for now is a Siri 2.0 some time in the future.

 

[M2M]

Yesterday, I was curious about the dimensions of the HomePod, to see if it would fit in a central location on my desk. I asked my Echo Dot "How tall is the homepod?" and it gave me the answer right away. Just for curiosity, I reckoned Siri would have intimate knowledge of Apple products, but it only directed me to the main Apple website.

I think the problem is the body of knowledge that Siri draws from for queries like those. Google Assistant draws from Google's Knowledge Graph, and I'm pretty sure Alexa does the same. Siri doesn't tap into those vast databases, so it has ridiculous answers for some questions, or just refuses at all.

Either way, I believe that Siri should be able to do significantly more, starting with routines. I also wish devs would tap into SiriKit more (and that Apple would expand SiriKit).

Best post I have seen ! And this also provides the answer why potentially Siri will never be good. Google and amazon can have best from their huge search and product databases to provide something more meaningful. Apple doesn’t have that and consequently a disadvantage!

 

[Blaze4G]

Not arguing with you that it was a BS response, but they did say "most popular voice assistant" and I'd say that is mostly true. When I try to explain what Bixby is on a Samsung Galaxy I always say "It's like Siri on an iPhone, you've heard of it right?" and then go into more depth if needed. Everybody knows the name Siri and at least somewhat what she does, as opposed to Alexa, Bixby, Cortana, or Google Assistant. While she isn't the most advanced assistant out there for sure, by name, Siri is the most popular. Not to mention that Siri is available on cheaper and older iPhone's so more people have the option, rather than buying a flagship phone to have Bixby/Google Assistant or buying a smart speaker to have Alexa/Google Assistant

Google Assistant is available on most of not all the cheap model phones. Just bought a moto G5 for an aunt for 180 new and it has it. Most of the older androids atleast have Google Now which is what Google Assistant was I believe. So highly doubt it's the most popular used. Maybe most recognizable name.

I feel like if you ask many casual Android users what google assistant is they wouldn't know but probsbly have used it before lol.

 

[ersan191]

Apple's reply is depressing - seems like they intend to keep polishing the turd instead of starting over.