Siri Co-Founder Adam Cheyer Left Apple In June

[MacRumors]

A second former Siri executive has left Apple -- this time, Siri co-founder Adam Cheyer. He left the company this past June according to AllThingsD, though the departure was originally reported by Bloomberg.

Another former Siri executive has left Apple. Adam Cheyer, who co-founded the voice recognition software company prior to its acquisition by Apple in 2008, has left the iPhone maker. Sources in position to know tell AllThingsD that Cheyer resigned back in June to pursue other projects. Cheyer is the second Siri executive to leave Apple in the past year, following CEO Dag Kittlaus, who left in October of 2011.

Siri CEO Dag Kittlaus joined Apple with Cheyer when the company was purchased in April 2010, but left Apple back in October of last year.

Article Link: Siri Co-Founder Adam Cheyer Left Apple In June

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

He had something better to do I bet.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I'm guessing this warrants a 'Steve would never have allowed this' comment.

 

[Prof.]

Guess he realized Siri is an utter failure.

 

[d0vr]

Is this note worthy because it's going to affect Siri, or a reflection of Apple in some way? Or are we just posting boring stuff on MR for the giggles? (serious question)

 

[Rizzm]

Is this note worthy because it's going to affect Siri, or a reflection of Apple in some way? Or are we just posting boring stuff on MR for the giggles? (serious question)

Yeah, I was thinking at some point in the article they'd make it relevant somehow, but nope.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

"to pursue other projects"

I assume this means: "to swim in a pool of money"

 

[jglonek]

Without more information it's hard to say what this means, if anything at all.

Some people love to innovate and create new things but not continually support it. If Cheyer felt like Siri is doing well in Apple's hands and wants to go work on something new there's no harm in that.

 

[seamuskrat]

Doesn't Bode Well for Siri

While a project can live on without the founders, it certainly sounds like they had some issues with Apple resources, management or the direction of the Siri project.

I am not a huge Siri user or super fan, but I do find it useful at times. My wish is better in car integration (iOS 6 MAY help with this) as that is when it comes in handy the most.

I do wonder why they left - was it the Apple culture? Being a minion when they formerly were the boss? Apple's direction with Siri?

Even if Siri is not the final incarnation of voice interaction with computing devices, the future certainly leads us to that as a partial interface with a computer.

My experience with Siri is tat is has dictation and voice down pretty damn good for normal environments. Logic and understanding is average. Presentation of the Siri approved data is awesome. When it pops up a Google page its lame.

I think 3 years from now the incarnation of Siri will be useful. Now its still a 'hobby'.

 

[Bosunsfate]

Pretty normal really

When founders sell their company it is pretty rare for them to stay around for very long.

I think it would have been more noteworthy to find out if they had stayed especially if it was very long after their retention programs had ended.

In my opinion these guys like working in small companies, sold their tech, and as they said, are moving on to other things.

 

[Porco]

June 30th: Siri, has Adam Cheyer left Apple?


.…

.…

September 12: Yes, he has!

 

[pdjudd]

We don't know anything of what this means so any sort of speculation has as much chance of being accurate as the opposite assumption. We just don't know enough to draw any conclusions from this.

My guess? They stayed the length of time that they committed to after the acquisition of their company. Executives move on after acquisitions. There is nothing unusual about that. My dad was a CFO in a major company that got acquired by a much larger company. Committed to and stayed with the new company for about a year and quit to work for another company. There wasn't anything personal - he just didn't want to work for that big of company.

He didn't think the acquisition of the company (and their IP) was a bad thing, he didn't the company was doomed to failure, taking a poor direction, or anything like that. He just wanted to move on to something else. It happens more often than not.

 

[kilcher]

Eh, nothing to see here. You sell a company, you stick around for the transition, you move on. That's just how it is.

 

[iPadPublisher]

Without more information it's hard to say what this means, if anything at all.

Exactly. We don't know if this was at Apple's request even. Truth be told, these guys accomplished their mission. They got to sell their baby and make loads of cash. Any time on Apple's payroll was largely a bonus, and allowed them to have some final input or say in how the final product made it out in the wild. These are the kinds of guys that move on now, and go do it again with something new.

Unless there was some indication of serious turmoil or something, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

 

[Dr. Echsel]

I've always found Siri to be quite accurate and useful if you speak clearly to her. Many of my friends either shout or say obscene things in a heavy accent that completely confuse her . . .

 

[turtlez]

Eh, nothing to see here. You sell a company, you stick around for the transition, you move on. That's just how it is.

that's exactly right!

 

[Jwil736]

I'm sure they're transition to apple and integrating it into iOS is over. I'm sure they made their improvements for the next 2 iOS updates, 7 and 8 and felt apple could take from there.

 

[Flood123]

Eh, nothing to see here. You sell a company, you stick around for the transition, you move on. That's just how it is.

I am positive this is the case.

 

[PDXoPDX]

I assume this means: "to swim in a pool of money"

Like so:

 

[Gasu E.]

I've always found Siri to be quite accurate and useful if you speak clearly to her. Many of my friends either shout or say obscene things in a heavy accent that completely confuse her . . .

Umm.. you do realize Siri isn't actually a "her"?

 

[illegalprelude]

Umm.. you do realize Siri isn't actually a "her"?

Yet its clearly a female voice so her it is. Moving on.

 

[iMarc845]

It's All Relative

Yet its clearly a female voice so her it is. Moving on.

Siri is actually completely asexual; it is an it. Whether you hear it speak in a male or female voice is entirely dependent upon where you are and what language you use with it. In the US, Siri has a female voice. in several other countries, including Japan, Italy and (I believe) the U.K., it speaks with a decidedly masculine intonation.

Add to that the fact that it is simply software, a program running on a piece of hardware, and "it' truly becomes the only proper pronoun for it.

So don't be so quick to dismiss other people; especially when they are more correct than you are.

 

[Blakjack]

I honestly don't think anyone intended on him staying longer than needed. It was probably already discussed that he would stay for the transition period only.

 

[powers74]

Guess he realized Siri is an utter failure.

Theory time. And I don't know much of anything.

It seems to me, a company, no matter the industry, eventually, gets to the size that it cannot sustain the vision, scope, and purpose of its institution. If it's a good company, it's an idea. Siri was and still is, a very good technology. But there comes a point when the original idea havers cannot sustain development. They need more members. Sometimes it will happen, the potion arises in which the original idea havers will have the opportunity to join a group of idea havers much larger than themselves.

What is the outcome of this? You can only have a certain idea of what the culture of this new group of idea havers is really going to be like. Some people can deal with these cultural changes better than others for so much time. The people who develop software are smart. Especially if one gets to the level of a company like Apple, you're really smart. But smart people are also very independent. And being pushed around by a lot of, ultimately, cultural barriers, some really smart people can only take it for so long. And so they leave.

Eventually, a company can only find a certain amount of people who are really smart, who can also put up with, or love the culture. Maybe Apple is nearing that tipping point.

Another thing that can break down a company is a management change.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but there has been a veritable flood of departures… eherm, in the last year... What is keeping I've there I wonder? He was Jobs self proclaimed corporate soul mate. The love of design I suppose? Or maybe he is just one of the few who can put up with the culture of Apple. After all, he was hired in '92. Five years before Jobs' return and seven after his first departure. Right on the brink of Apple's downward spiral...

I honestly don't think anyone intended on him staying longer than needed. It was probably already discussed that he would stay for the transition period only.

Or this.

 

[kockgunner]

Siri's sheen has worn off and I honestly don't know what Apple bought when they paid for Siri. The context aware stuff is pretty weak and only useful in a few use cases. Google Now seems much more useful an faster to boot. Can anyone enlighten me what Siri actually is?