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Former Apple Employees Reflect on Siri's 'Squandered Lead' Over Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
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Of course, the distinction is based on individual user preferences. (I'm in the "not NEARLY enough" group).
That said, while I appreciate Apple's publicly stated goal of making Siri do a few things really well rather than being a simple trivial-pursuit engine, there are a couple of real problems with that.
1. Amazon and Google have already set market expectations that a voice assistant can do both... and do them well
2. Amazon and Google have already set market expectations that a voice assistant can do lots of other things too
3. Amazon and Google have already set market expectations that a voice assistant has constantly evolving capabilities
Yes... there's a pattern here... but it's not really as much about Amazon and Google as it is what customers now expect from the genre. The die is cast and limited functionality has already lost. Customers - those that would actually use it - expect ever increasing functionality.
To make a very bad analogy, imagine if a home builder (call it ... "Orange") set out to make the most amazing home possible and that when they started indoor plumbing didn't exist. Now imagine that a couple of other builders - perhaps "Nile" and "Bazillion" - started building homes WITH indoor plumbing... but Orange say's they don't think it's important and won't build it. Who's going to win that battle?
Sure, for now a voice assistant is a really cool toy, but the day will come when it's an integral part of our lives / homes / cars / etc. Surely Apple wants to lead that charge... but unfortunately they are going to require a major "come to Jesus" moment to get that train back on the track. I sincerely hope they get there... soon.
Siri is useless. I asked, what I thought was a simple question
'hey Siri, what is currently playing on Broadway?'
It's response
'brodway is a long way from your location, here are some local cinema listings'.
Broadway is a humongous world wide tourist attraction and has been for centuries, they engineers on Siri totally miss the mark 90% of the time.
'hey Siri, what is currently playing on Broadway?'
It's response
'brodway is a long way from your location, here are some local cinema listings'.
Broadway is a humongous world wide tourist attraction and has been for centuries, they engineers on Siri totally miss the mark 90% of the time.
Siri is the worst product Apple has ever made in my history of using Apple products. Why when I ask it to play a song in my library it decides nope you want to hear this song you’ve never heard of before. Or why can’t it answer simple questions, everything is always a search query. Even asking the same thing can illicit different responses. Sometimes what’s playing makes Siri gets it Shazam on and others, movie showtimes. Siri is only good for asking for the weather, setting timers and alarms, and showing off some funny response to a human question that was cute the first time
I remember people who told me that Siri before Apple purchased it was more useful. I've never even turned it on. There's nothing about it I've ever found compelling. I was however blown away with the voice quality of Alexa when I first heard it. Don't use that either, but I have heard it and was very impressed.
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Perhaps, but asking questions on the fly and interactively getting verbal answer is key to a lot of things beyond "trivial pursuit".
No excuses! lol Siri is not so helpful. I much, much prefer Bixby who can turn off lights for me and actually be an assistant. That and Google Assistant who is all knowledgeable. Yep, hopefully Siri can improve in time.
I think Apple really didn't get the direction that a tool like Siri should be taking. They eventually realized with Alexa but by then it was too late. Google and Microsoft got it and were in quick pursuit of Amazon but they don't have the core competencies that Amazon has. Only Apple does but Apple didn''t quite get it with Alexa. They still don't. No wonder Alexa is winnign.
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.
I am well aware
shame the buffoon didn't learn from that mistakes.Just like Steve's one button mouse mistake. You would think your saint tim would learn from that humiliating mistake
Probably they want to concentrate developing animate emoji.
Wouldn't be surprised if the limited abilities provided by SiriKit had to do with Apple being control freaks about Spotify and other competing services (not that Apple has to do this in order to ensure Apple Music's continued growth and survival). Could it really just be down to major incompetence from that team? I will go 'Smart Speaker'-free until I see if Apple can improve the Homepod and play nice with Spotify. If not am moving on. (though with how stupid Spotify can be am not sure fault is all on Apple anyway).
I have a HomePod also..but Siri still will not play music from Bilal because she pronounces his name wrong.. stuff like this is really a let down. What the HomePod is supposed to do first because of Siri and the lack of real improvements makes it a hard buy for people on the fence..I have faith that Apple will hear the noise and honestly fix Siri or start over..hopefully starting this year. But until I hear something from them at WWDC This one HomePod will be all the money Apple gets from me for a while..Alexa really does have me curious
I think when it works well, the benefits will show and it won’t be that intrusive. Because of the bad experiences and multiple retries... it has gotten a pain to use and when Siri was a person you would want to slap it in the face
FINE = Freaked Out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional
** Movie Quote from "The Italian Job"
Yeah, but... Apple is still focused on all the emoji’s we are missing, and now they are probably focusing all their ressources to make all of them animoji’s...
I never thought i’d say this but Apple is loosing out in the long run, and I’m starting to consider switching to android... not a good sign.
"Hey Siri, pause the video". "Sorry I can't do that". "Hey Siri..." No response. "HEY SIRI..." No response. "Hey Siri, remind me to grab the files when I get to the office". "Ok, I will remind you". Later that day... no reminder.
I stopped using Siri, waste of time
Siri was a cheap gimmick from the start. The new HomePod is proof of that. All that money, all their resources but yet Amazon and Google have left Apple in the dust when it comes to a real personal assistant.
I stopped using Siri, waste of time
Siri was a cheap gimmick from the start. The new HomePod is proof of that. All that money, all their resources but yet Amazon and Google have left Apple in the dust when it comes to a real personal assistant.
Apple ain't the company they used to be. Still the best, but that gap has certainly narrowed.
I'll never forget walking into AT&T a couple years ago and watching one of their sales reps attempting to sell an iPhone to an old person, primarily leaning on Siri to do so...I couldn't help but giggle.
I'll never forget walking into AT&T a couple years ago and watching one of their sales reps attempting to sell an iPhone to an old person, primarily leaning on Siri to do so...I couldn't help but giggle.