Unless your fans demand that you don't change a thing and just keep your existing sexy virtual assistant with the awesome name from your phenomenal virtual game.
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Microsoft Opens Cortana Virtual Assistant to Third-Party Hardware Makers
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Unless your fans demand that you don't change a thing and just keep your existing sexy virtual assistant with the awesome name from your phenomenal virtual game.
That's funny!
Siri is in my wrist, in my TV, in my pocket, in my couch and in my desk.
Cortana isn't.
Google Assistant isn't.
Alexa isn't.
That's why they need to make this ugly nerdy gadgets.
And they still can't compete with Apple's HomeKit!
1. As I noted in another post here "Hey Siri" doesn't work with your phone in your pocket. I know I've tried. Also as noted, not everyone has their phone attached to their hip when at home. I for one do not. In fact when I'm home I'm regularly using "Find my iPhone" to figure out where I left it.
2. If I have to pull my phone out to ask Siri to turn on the lights or turn down the thermostat I might as well just flip the switch myself. It totally negates the whole point of hands-free voice automation. The Dot is not about music. It's speaker is lousy for that. The Dot is about home automation. You are thinking maybe of the Echo or Tap which are meant to play music and are considerably more expensive than the Dot.
3. Voice commands are limited but like any language you learn how to talk the way it can understand. I can say "Hey Siri, turn the bedroom lights to 50" and she understands to turn the lights to 50%. Alexa is a lot better with "normal language" than Siri. That and Apple not having a stand-alone voice command speaker are my two big beefs here, and why Amazon will continue to win here.
4. Most people can afford a $39-49 box if they have a $600-1000 smartphone. Otherwise there wouldn't be a market for them. Amazon can't make money on these -- actually probably loses money on the Dot -- if it doesn't make it up in volume. The profit margin on these is negligible if at all. It's just a hook into Amazon the same way a razor stick is to blades.
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I think you meant to say Tim Cook...
1. Pull your phone out of your pocket, takes two seconds. Most people would take their phone out and leave their phone in the room they have settled. To which point you can use Siri.
2. No, not if the thermostat is in another room! If it is in the same room as your voice box or mobile then there is no point using either device, just do it manually!
3. I wouldn't imagine there is too much difference between any voice activated robot when it comes to AI at the moment. Explain why Apple would need to have a stand-alone voice command speaker and why Amazon win because they do? Win what?
4. Not sure where you are getting these figures from or how you are determining Amazon's P&L. What else is their voice box device going to suck me into using? A Kindle?
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For me, Cortana isn't too bad to say. It's not like you have to say "Her royal highness, empress of all that the sun touches, heir to the holy rings of Betazed, Cortana" or something. Now THAT's a mouthful.
At some point Apple is going to shutdown every product competing with HomeKit on Apple devices. I just don't like the forced Apple only attitude. It used to be if you wanted the best cross platform experience it was Apple, even if sometimes it was not the best experience. Microsoft was the company that crippled other company's products. Now the tables have turned and Apple is the company that refuses to allow competing products on its devices. I think this is fundamentally wrong and have no intention of supporting that attitude by buying Apple products, no matter how good the marketing is.
Now is not a very good time for technology. I don't want to buy any of it. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google provide unfettered access to my personal data to the government and anyone that can pay for it, and Apple is quickly trying to clamp down on my freedoms and force their political correctness and ideology on me. Neither are good.
I have had an automated home for 20 years and I seriously just want to rip it all out because of this attitude of being forced into a particular ecosystem. This was the Microsoft strategy from the get go. No one, that understood what was going on, liked it. Now we need to understand it is happening again with Apple, and just like history by the time people figure it out, there will be no going back.
Now is the time to say no we are not buying unless we get open cross compatible systems. They don't have to be free, but they need to support the concept of freedom to use the device however the user wants. One can get a lot of free or expensive stuff as long as they are willing to be a slave to the company providing it. This is bad for everyone.
Now is not a very good time for technology. I don't want to buy any of it. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google provide unfettered access to my personal data to the government and anyone that can pay for it, and Apple is quickly trying to clamp down on my freedoms and force their political correctness and ideology on me. Neither are good.
I have had an automated home for 20 years and I seriously just want to rip it all out because of this attitude of being forced into a particular ecosystem. This was the Microsoft strategy from the get go. No one, that understood what was going on, liked it. Now we need to understand it is happening again with Apple, and just like history by the time people figure it out, there will be no going back.
Now is the time to say no we are not buying unless we get open cross compatible systems. They don't have to be free, but they need to support the concept of freedom to use the device however the user wants. One can get a lot of free or expensive stuff as long as they are willing to be a slave to the company providing it. This is bad for everyone.
Amazon Echo kinda looks like a trash can, er a Mac Pro, and no one seems notices where they've obviously borrowed the look from (even the top). About the sub woofer, it's the same that came with the original iMac (which I still have), just updated bit).
1. No. I like to live with the latest technology offers, not yesterday's. You could say the exact same thing car remote unlock of the 80s vs hands-free unlock of today. Hands-free seemed like an unnessary extravagant when remote unlock was the norm. But today remote unlock feels archaic after you have owned a car with hands-free.
2. I suppose of you have a mansion. Most people's rooms are not ballrooms. It's not a far walk if you are in the "don't be so lazy" camp. But if you are in the home automation camp then you want to be all-in 2016-17 style, not what 2010 offered.
3. As I said in my earlier post -- not sure what its so hard for you to understand -- "Hey, Siri" does not work when it's in your pocket. Also most peopel don't always have their phone or tablet with them. If you have speakers in the major rooms in your home then none of that matters. You just walk into the room and say "turn on the lights 50" or if you are reading on the sofa and it's chil say "turn up the heat to 71". No need to fumble with any device. THAT is the whole point of voice control.
4. It doesn't take much imagination to guess what a Dot costs Amazon to make. Even if it's a healthy Apple-esqe 40% margin that is $15-20 per unit. Do the math on how many Amazon would need to sell to make a meaningful number to either revenue or net profit. Amazon sells the Dot not to profit off the device but to hook people into its services and sales.
From your comment I don't think you are familar with Amazon or Alexa at all and just talking out of your you know what. Amazon makes money from Alexa in many ways but the biggest are letting customers ask Alexa to:
- to play an album from Amazon's Prime or subscription based music service or buy it outright
- to start a movie from Amazon's Prime or PPV catalog or buy it outright
- to order anything Amazon sells
- to read an Audible audiobook to you (Amazon owns Audible)
And, of course, it helps to be a Prime member if you are going to own a Dot. Prime members spend 4.6x more than non-Prime members. (Also). Again, more ka-ching for Amazon thanks to Dot/Alexa bringing in more Prime customers.
And all the while Amazon is collecting all that data on you as well, making money off of that and improving how Amazon gets customers to buy thing online more impulsively.
Homekit is terrible. It gained hardly any traction whatsoever in its first two years. It is still lagging way behind Amazons Alexa and Googles Nest stuff.
What dust? This whole thing of an automated assistant AS A STANDALONE DEVICE that you can talk to is ridiculously stupid. I don't understand why anyone would need one.
It's a very small market. I'd rather use what's on my phone. I'd rather use my phone's camera than an external camera, my phone's calculator than an external calculator, my phone's stopwatch than an external stopwatch, and so on....
It just seems so wrong to have all these dedicated devices than one device that can do everything. Only if you're a professional photographer (very small market) would you want a dedicated camera. I can't think of what you'd need a 'dedicated assistant' for. It's a very small market as well.
Also Samsung Smartthings. When you go to stores that sell gadgets -- not just places like BestBuy, but even Target, they have displays dedicated to home automation and you sees dedicated shelf space for Smarthings, Google, Alexa devices. Homekit stuff is just mixed in with those because they are also compatible with Homekit.
Apple does no marketing or consumer education about Homekit whatsoever. So perplexing why Apple is being so half-assed here, integrating Homekit into TVos but not really advertising it, integrating Siri into Mac but w/o Homekit. Only 1 iPad is capable of "hey Siri." So confusing to me, it's no wonder it doesn't appear on regular people's radar.
Given Apple's even more audacious pricing of late I doubt we'll see an affordable voice command speaker from Apple anytime ever. I think it will come back to bite them as even my 1000% non-tech oriented sister is going on and on about how amazing Dot is and also that it's what her college age kids want this year.
Maybe because you've never tried it out? I was like you until I bought a Hue starter kit on Amazon Day. Since then I bought an Ecobee thermostat and upgraded my Gen 1 August Lock to a Gen 2 w/ Homekit. Now I don't know how I got along without. I don't even bother to lock the door anymore. I just go directly to the car and then say "hey siri lock the door." Done. One of many trivial small things it does but all those small worthless things in life add up to real time gained, just like saving dollars.
1. Are you seriously comparing a 2016 iPhone Siri voice technology to 80's technology? Car remote technology has got absolutely nothing to do with this debate, you are simply muddying the waters!
2. Take it out of your pocket!!! I do not believe for one second that any voice activated device would comfortably enable you to (even 60% of the time) accurately carry out the tasks you need without the need for you to pull out your phone and get the job done manually. You cannot believe that 2016 is the year that we can convert to voice controlled devices. If so, you are living in a dream world!
4. Most people have no interest in what Amazon products any device can voice activate!!
Can't wait to talk to my underpowered Siri speaker. Hope it's thin enough
It's all about the bass
Sure...
It's the most widely used and supported platform...
"Terrible" they say...
You are delusional, even Alphabet is bending the knee and supporting it with Nest!
1. No you are when you say "just take your phone out of your pocket." "Take your phone out of your pocket is so 2011.
2. Most people have no interest in Amaon products except that the Dot inventory in retail stores I go to has significantly thinned out since Thanksgiving. No interest in Amazon products except that its web services has become its most profitable division and helped it to achieve its first overall annual profits in years. Before Amazon started its web services it had annual losses just selling shoes and toothpaste. It's subscription services are where it makes its money so clearly enough people ARE interested or it's stock growth wouldn't be well outpacing Apple's as investors are giddy about Amazon's subscripton service future.
3. But OK, I'll bite, who are these most people you talk about and why do they matter at this point? Regardless of how many people are buying up Dots this holiday season, Alexa has been driving Amazons growth and will continue to. Most people did not buy a 1st generation iPhone. How did that affect future iPhone sale or competitors?
Yes I forgot Smartthings, they are very prominent in stores here in the UK probably second only to Amazons stuff.
Affordability is a problem also the hoops that Apple makes device makers jump through for Homekit certification is a deal breaker for many. Apple requires hardware makers to include a proprietary Apple chip for Homekit cert, the problem is that Apple didn't communicate that well at all initially and partners were still unsure if HK cert would require specific hardware or just software as much as six months after it was announced.
There was an issue with Ecobee, they put out the Ecobee 3 thermostat in late 2014 not realizing that Apples chip would need to be added for Homekit certification. Apparently they were unaware of what certification entailed until the first few months of 2015. When Ecobee wanted to add Homekit functionality they had to put out new Ecobee 3 hardware. Cue lots of unhappy customers complaining that their less than year old thermostat isn't compatible. I think this kind of thing has probably put a lot of potential hardware partners off.
I suspect this is why they aren't pushing it very hard, it just has very little support. Less than half the amount of compatible devices compared to the other big players last I heard.
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No it isn't, stop posting absolute drivel.
1. I think his point is about convenience - let's face it, in today's world there's very little advancement in consumer technology that is in any way essential, it's all about incremental improvements in convenience. Therefore, to say you could achieve something the same way at greater inconvenience doesn't seem a persuasive argument. When I'm sat on the sofa and want to turn the lights out, getting my iPhone out of my jeans pocket isn't actually all that easy. So much easier just to say "XXXXX, turn the lounge lights off". Plus, the whole family can operate the lights/heating etc without everyone having to own an iPhone.
2. My Echo's "hit rates" for the main home automation commands I need is pretty much 100%. Of course we're not at the stage where it's practical to control every IoT device by voice, but I don't think that was even claimed. With voice, I can turn lights on or off, adjust their brightness and colour, turn the heating on/off, change the thermostat temperature, turn the hot water on/off, all without the need for any additional input.
4. I'd like to understand what you're basing that on, but your comment doesn't seem to have anything to do with the one you're responding to, which was talking about the services Amazon could potentially make money from to justify selling Echo/Dot etc at a loss.
I'd really love for Apple to enter this space in a meaningful way.
I'm hoping that a AirPort replacement is the start of it, along with a new, revamped, more understanding, more functional Siri.
Siri is one of the things that seems to have stagnated. I'd say it works about 60% of the time and with the eye test it seems to have always been around this rate.
I'm hoping that a AirPort replacement is the start of it, along with a new, revamped, more understanding, more functional Siri.
Siri is one of the things that seems to have stagnated. I'd say it works about 60% of the time and with the eye test it seems to have always been around this rate.
Siri at least successfully plays music sends messages / enter calendar info and tell you about cinema time all things Cortana fails to do. Siri's wolfram Alpha integration is also useful.
Don't forget OK BOOBOO
O - KAY - BOO - BOO: apparently it has the right amount of syllables.
This feels like an entirely different world that we're living in, and Apple's limelight is fading fast. With Cortana integrated so broadly into a household, and supposedly working well, I can't imagine the homeowner choosing any other platform. If Siri is limited in her reach, she will never gain any real traction.