Siri Gives Apple Two Year Advantage Over Android

Hugh Pickens writes "Gary Morgenthaler, a recognized expert in artificial intelligence and a Siri board member, says that Apple now has at least a two-year advantage over Google in the war for best smartphone platform. 'What Siri has done is changed people's expectations about what's possible,' says Morgenthaler. 'Apple has crossed a threshold; people now expect that you should be able to expect to speak ordinary English — and be understood. Siri has cracked the code.' The threshold, from mere speech recognition to natural language input and understanding, is one that Google cannot cross by replicating the technology or making an acquisition adds Morgenthaler. 'There's no company out there they can go buy.' Morgenthaler's comments echo the recent article in Forbes Magazine, 'Why Siri Is a Google Killer' that says that Apple's biggest advantage over any other voice application out there today is the massive data Siri will collect in the next 2 years — all being stored in Apple's massive North Carolina data center — that will allow Siri to get better and better. 'Siri is a new interface for customers wanting to get information,' writes Eric Jackson. 'At the moment, most of us still rely on Google for getting at the info we want. But Siri has a foot in the door and it's trusting that it will win your confidence over time to do basic info gathering.'"

Comments

Not to mention the comic advantage ...

[psergiu]

http://siriouslyweird.tumblr.com/
http://sirisaysthedarndestthings.com/

"and a Siri board member"

[EponymousCustard]

Stopped reading after that

Re:"and a Siri board member"

[Superken7]

Not only that, he completely disregards for no apparent reason those existing services that are exactly like Siri was before Apple acquired it (read: same functionality, inferior interface/design). Speaktoit allows you to speak english to your phone and will do almost the same that Siri does. Google would need to buy them and integrate it in a nice way with Android. The current interface is a bit lacking but the technology is definitely there.
This is obviously a VERY biased opinion from a Siri board member.

Re:"and a Siri board member"

[jrumney]

"Iris, does this article look like a steaming pile of turd to you too?"

Yes Dave, it does look like a poorly researched paid product placement.

Gee, there's an unbiased source...

[NiteShaed]

"Gary Morgenthaler, a recognized expert in artificial intelligence and a Siri board member

Wow, board member of company says company's technology is the most amazing and groundbreaking thing since sliced bread. What a surprise. This just in, Bill Gates says Windows is the best OS, and Larry Ellison says Oracle databases are hands-down unbeatable.

I don't blame the guy for saying it, of course he probably thinks his product is the best. Maybe he even believes the thing about the two-year advantage, but he's also got a pretty vested interest in making other people believe it too.

Re:Why?

[Relyx]

People aren't going to use Siri very much, because talking to your phone makes you look stupid.

How do you make phone calls then without looking stupid?

Siri is 'the next big thing'?

[NimbleSquirrel]

Seriously, Apple seems to be grasping at straws for any edge over Android phones. I'm not going to make comparisons between Siri and Google Voice Search, as plenty of others are doing that. What I will say is that Siri (and other voice command systems) are gimmicks at best. Unless their entire client base is visually impaired, I doubt that it will see any serious day-to-day use once the novelty has worn off. Texting and twitter are growing because people aren't talking into their phones. What makes Apple think that Siri will change that trend?

Re:Siri is 'the next big thing'?

[AnttiV]

Seriously, mod parent up. Although voice-activated things have been possible for the longest time (voice dialling, google voice search, etc), I have NEVER heard ANYONE use those. Ever. At least here in Finland, people DO NOT speak to the PHONES, they speak, THROUGH the phone to someone else. Jeez, we don't even speak to answering machines, we hang up :D Much, much, MUCH than more important than Siri to people I know, is the ability to personalize, everything. Covers, ringtones, logos, you name it. I have witnessed about 5 or 6 circumstances where people have bought and Android phone over iPhone SOLELY for the fact that you can't "mod" iPhone in any way that would have a real impact. Every iPhone in this whole world looks (almost) EXACTLY like the other. You cannot make an iPhone "your" phone, it is "just an iPhone", where as with Android, you can. From where I stand, THIS is the killer feature, rather than voice commands. People customize pretty much everything they own, so phones are just a natural extension of that habit.

Re:BS. Google voice search is 99% of what Siri is.

[Randle_Revar]

>It already does 99% of what Siri does

Siri is the 1%!

Occupy Siri!