It seems like Apple’s Siri hasn’t improved a lot since its debut in 2010. Well, at least that’s what most people, quoted in a recent story by a digital publication, suggest, and that also includes people who’ve formerly worked on it.
Siri, the smart voice assistant, was first introduced with the iPhone 4S in 2011, and has definitely evolved over the years. Unfortunately, it hasn’t turned out be as revolutionary a product as Apple usually pulls out of its hat.
Too caught up to read? Listen to the story:
According to the report, fellow competitors Google and Amazon, who entered the market after Apple with their voice assistants, have moved ahead in terms of product purpose and innovation.
But are we really surprised by all these claims? Not really. Luckily for Apple, the market hasn’t moved beyond their reach. Although, Tim Cook and Co shouldn’t wait for more warning signs before they start working on making Siri better.
This report by The Information breaks down the life story of Siri, and how Apple and its management has failed to utilise the voice assistant to its fullest. Most former employees quoted in the story, reflect on how Siri’s effectiveness was lost by not assigning a particular role for it.
Many also felt that Steve Jobs death was the tipping point for Siri.
Does this mean that no one besides Steve Jobs had the foresight to project the viability of Siri in the future? It’s funny that Apple has kind of stuck to the standard measures for a voice assistant – send message, block calendar or set alarm.
A revolutionary feature has been missing in the product that was actually bought by Apple for a reported $200 million in 2010.
In addition, Apple only offers Siri to iPhone, iPad and Mac users. Compared to that, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant (GA) from Google cater to multiple products and ecosystems without closing doors to non-Amazon or Google consumers, something that Apple is guilty of doing.
According to a Counterpoint research note, Apple started the trend of automatic speech recognition tools like Siri. However, Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana (to some extent) have benefited from Siri by creating a market for them and also from Siri’s poor user experience.
All this has ensured that Siri, while being a competent voice assistant for Apple users, has completely missed out on the chance to become a universally accepted technology.
Not Appealing to All
We don’t have to look far to see the impact that Siri and Alexa can have on users. In India, Siri has been around for a while now, but its capabilities have been limited till date, even though Apple promises advancements in Siri’s support for India.
Alexa on the other hand, with help from Amazon, has managed to understand Indian accents. Add to that, you have GA which is now able to respond to user queries in Hindi, with more languages to be added soon.
Markets like India have to be in Apple’s roadmap, and supporting local languages for Siri could be a significant start to show its seriousness.
Even when you consider its implementation on the HomePod speaker, Siri feels more like an afterthought rather than being the spearhead. This clearly explains the limited aspect of the voice assistant showcased during the launch of the speaker in 2017, and most reviewers have even dubbed it as the “dumbest smart speaker”.
Apple definitely won’t agree with the claims made in the report, and understandably, its rebuttal speaks highly of Siri and its growth over the years.
However, Amazon has already roped in over 25,000 skills for Alexa till date and GA can virtually handle a million different queries. Apple still has a long way to go before it can walk the talk with its famed voice assistant.
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