I read that, and it sums up why Siri isn't what it could or should be.
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Former Apple Employees Reflect on Siri's 'Squandered Lead' Over Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
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I read that, and it sums up why Siri isn't what it could or should be.
Siri is a great concept for devices that have enough bandwidth to perform the two-way communications act to distant servers, the critical link which animates its "intelligence". Out in the real world this link is often poor quality, and Siri defaults to a Plan B answer. Until Apple can match the networked prowess and low latency times of AMZN and GOOG servers, Siri will always come up short.
This guy sounds like an absolute jerk, completely hopeless and the worst kind of manager imaginable. If he was manager for a just a day then he still has some responsibility.
Bad managers have a tendency to pass the buck, pass blame and absolve themselves of responsibility — the very responsibility and leadership they’re supposedly employed and paid handsomely for. They’re happy to take credit for successes but failures are never their fault.
We all know and have worked with people like that. A significant majority of managers in my experience behave this way at least to some extent. Recruitment processes seem to actively look and select poor personality for some reason.
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Oh they know music is what people want, but they want everyone to be locked into Apple Music. They're doing that solely as a business decision and it sucks for end users.
Good, bad.. whatever. Either way, I don't want to talk to my technology. The virtual assistant thing is completely useless to me.
Siri is just a mess. The interface is meh, it constantly freezes on my iPhone X, and it can't read things on google or bing. That would fix a lot of problems. For example, my Siri constantly says, "Heres what I found on the web", witch isn't very useful. If it read what it found on the web, that would be a lot more useful, as the point of Siri is to not have to look at the screen. Multiple timers would also be useful.
But my main problem is the freezing. I will hold the side button on my phone, Siri opens, and my entire phone completely freezes up and I have to restart it.
But my main problem is the freezing. I will hold the side button on my phone, Siri opens, and my entire phone completely freezes up and I have to restart it.
I've used iPhones since the original. With the launch of the HomePod, I realized just how far behind Apple was with their services, including Siri. So, I bought a Pixel 2 XL a few days ago.
I got it yesterday.
After I arrived home, I decided that I wanted to hear the news while I got myself a snack. I squeezed the sides of the phone and said "Cast the news to the Kitchen Speaker." It did it. 5 minute NPR summary of the day's news.
I then went to watch TV, so I squeezed the sides again. "Play Grace and Frankie on the Living Room TV." It TURNED ON MY TV, opened Netflix, and started playing Grace and Frankie.
Apple is years away from Siri having this ability. And just like that, I left.
I got it yesterday.
After I arrived home, I decided that I wanted to hear the news while I got myself a snack. I squeezed the sides of the phone and said "Cast the news to the Kitchen Speaker." It did it. 5 minute NPR summary of the day's news.
I then went to watch TV, so I squeezed the sides again. "Play Grace and Frankie on the Living Room TV." It TURNED ON MY TV, opened Netflix, and started playing Grace and Frankie.
Apple is years away from Siri having this ability. And just like that, I left.
Siri went from being the standard (it was on all iPhones, everybody knew about it) to being the actual worst assistant available. I never see anybody using it. Now in 2018, Alexa and Google destroy Siri. Its obvious that there are serious issues when it comes to how Apple manages Siri. Maybe Siri needs to be rebuilt from the ground up by a new team.
As with the mb keyboards, the touch bar, magsafe removal, magic mouse charge input location, lack of ergonomics on pencil, lack of a holding spot for it, software downgrades like disk utility, aperture obsolence, facetime current limitations, iTunes and it's sync with iOS music player failing miserably, Maps, iOS 11 and High Sierra being a bug nightmare with barely no UI significant changes (in fact almost every 3rd party application substituting apple´s native apps are offering improved UI/UX on something Apple used to stand out before like no other), messages unable to properly organize messages, Siri, Safari, 480px webcams and tons of other greedy decisions and half baked features show a strong lack of leadership for great product craftsmanship and a clear penny pinching direction to margin at all costs exploding aesthetics formulas, there are still people who will come whine about negativity and that all these decisions have been the best ever. For Apple employees to leak this go figure..
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They didn’t know about theApple speaker? Those Apple employee’s should have read Mac rumours.
All of this was composed by Siri
All of this was composed by Siri
Some finger pointing and a few comments are in order.
While AI may prove the extinction of the human race, it also has upsides. Apple may have got off to a rocky start (continuing) with Siri but has every reason and resource to be predominant in this field. It is also in a position to guide AI and technology in general in a more benign and useful direction.
As introduced with the iPhone 4s, the release of Siri in 2011 would put it at about the time of the death of Steve Jobs and under the leadership of Tim Cook; whatever the vision of Mr. Jobs may have been, Mr. Cook bears full responsibility for how Siri was released and what it has become to date. Obviously there is room for improvement.
I've always wondered what Steve Jobs saw in Tim Cook. If a CEO who would not immediately sink the ship and probably help it prosper, then it has proven a wise choice. However Mr. Cook's expertise is said to be in logistics, which has increasingly become a mess within Apple under his reign; there are no clear product lines, too many near, needless duplications and release dates are often not met. Moreover some product lines (i.e. Macintosh specifically) have been both ignored and misdirected. Apple's current bread and butter of the iPhone isn't even perfectly executed.
Apple often seems adrift, searching aimlessly for a new direction and purpose, meanwhile not tending its core businesses well. While it obviously should evolve, that it currently does should be done in a solid fashion.
Or, in short, CEO Cook has done a brilliant job of maximizing what the creativity of Mr. Jobs wrought, but without the passion. Moreover, none of this is sustainable without strict attention to business and detail, to excellence. This last has withered under Mr. Cook's management. While good that Mr. Cook seeks new opportunities and areas of growth, Apple could become another HP or worse if forsaking what made its reputation and legion of loyal customers: pure excellence in the experience.
On the plus side, for various faults and overindulgence in politics and causes of the day Mr. Cook is still a solid CEO. To his credit he seems to truly care about the due privacy of his customers, a trait oft lacking in other large tech corporations. While not perfect in this, to the extent he not only pays lip service but fully embodies this principle within Apple, perhaps his strongest and most lasting legacy. One to be proud of.
If ambivalence and misgivings at the time, I'm all the more certain continuing that Apple lost a key asset in Mr. Forstall. If for no other reason than he seemed to really care about the end result, or what the customer would experience in ease, utility, grace and productivity.
My understanding that Apple may soon become a trillion dollar company. It could even more quickly implode. Or perhaps continue its recent almost amazing years of revenue growth. My hope—either way—that its customers truly care about the outcome: because they have a reason to and for what they receive from Apple have a feeling akin to love.
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I love Apple Music, but it never works correctly for me with Siri. I tell it to do something very simple. Play some music by The Weeknd, or Play some Christmas music, or Play something chill, and it won
t. It constantly says, "That may be beyond my abilities at the moment, please try again later."
We got an Amazon Echo and a Dot last week, both play my choice in music with absolutely no issues whatsoever, Siri has a problem at least 50% of the time.
I would rate Siri as the worst Apple product I have ever had to interact with, and we used to have Newtons at work for a while!
I would rate Siri as the worst Apple product I have ever had to interact with, and we used to have Newtons at work for a while!
And yet I have found little use for siri beyond controlling my lights or setting the occasional timer. Truly a disappointment after having had a significant lead.
I left iPhone many years ago, but I remember being gobsmacked that saying "Turn on wi-fi" didn't work.
Does it now?
Sounds like what you are really saying is, "I have a hammer and everything is a nail to me." Sometimes a screwdriver is a better tool.
I don’t use Siri on my phone. Only for my HomePod and she’s perfect at playing the music that I ask for. Thats the reason why I bought the speaker and that’s what Apple is marketing it as first and foremost, a compact premium music speaker. Apple should not be this far behind the competition when you look at the head start it has had.
I think more hilarious if anything. They have a penchant for not finding good talent because the talent would rather work elsewhere.
Tone deaf response, what could you expect with a idiot leader.
You are holding it wrong people...
You are holding it wrong people...
Sadly, this is what the problem is with this Siri thing (people need to stop referring to it as if it is a person). I had high expectations with it when it was first introduced, but after reading this article, this thing will be so far behind with the current trend of virtual assistants that I hope Apple just admit that it's a failure and start from the beginning. I would happily wait for the end product, no matter how long it takes, once they have ACTUALLY worked on it significantly. Apple has recently been all over the place with their projects, i.e Carpool Karaoke, Driverless Vehicles, Wannabe Netflix, and so on...their focus is all over the place that it starts to abandon what got them here in the first place. Remember "IT JUST WORKS" and get back to it, this starts from the top.
I somewhat believe that. I believe there is probably a product manager in the Apple Music group that is lobbying other groups to de-prioritize music-related APIs because he believes that to be the best business decision. I doubt what you say is a larger vision from the top, though. The reason is that it is inconsistent.
Why does the Now Playing applet on the Apple Watch work with Spotify, but Siri doesn't? It's inconsistent. If there was a larger decision from the top about locking people into Apple Music, I would think music controls on the Apple Watch would mirror Siri and also not work with Spotify. Same for CarPlay, yet Spotify works on that just fine. These inconsistencies make me think it's not being done solely as a business decision, but rather from mismanagement.
Actually, I think it was Saint Steve who famously said we were holding it wrong
I drive long distances for work. So I have to rely on Siri through my Apple Car play for most tasks. I gotta say it's still terrible. It often misunderstands me and its functions are so limited, I'd actually have to grab my phone if I wanted to get things done. Which I won't do while driving, so work just doesn't get done.
Step up your game Apple. Please.
Step up your game Apple. Please.