“Apple will kick off its WWDC 2016 Monday at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco,” Jay Somaney writes for TheStreet. “Apple does not usually focus on hardware at the WWDC event because it focuses mainly on software side enhancements and introduction of new features in that area. So, if there is any announcement regarding their product lineup, it will more than likely be a surprise to most.”
“What I am looking for at WWDC is some sort of announcement that shows that Apple has not completely ceded the virtual assistant market to Amazon Echo and the virtual assistants that Google will soon release Google Home,” Somaney writes. “That has been one of my biggest concerns about how successful Echo has been and how far behind Apple seems to have fallen behind Amazon.”
Somaney writes, “From what I hear, everyone who uses Echo absolutely loves the product and considering Siri has been around for six years or so, I am aghast that Apple has not even remotely achieved Echo-like success.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Most people do love their Amazon Echo and Amazon Tap devices, but there is certainly much room for improvement on the concept should Apple deign to do so.
SEE ALSO:
New Apple TV to take on Amazon’s Echo, source says – May 26, 2016
Apple preps Amazon Echo rival, opening up Siri – May 24, 2016
Apple should make a stationary voice command device like Amazon’s Echo – May 19, 2016
Google unveils its Amazon Echo knockoff called ‘Google Home’ – May 18, 2016
Where’s Apple’s answer to Amazon Echo? – March 31, 2016
Amazon Echo leads mindshare in smart home platform war – February 29, 2016
Well we were all told something of this nature was coming at last years event indeed the pre event buzz was so persistent and consistent in nature that actually I hadn’t realised that at least some of this functionality wasn’t part of AppleTV/HomeKit developments for some time afterwards. The capability is so damn obvious that all I can imagine is that Apple arrogantly thought it could delay such developments until it felt it fitted into their at times snail like product development schedule. Almost like ‘oh we are going to be a little short of new/upgraded products during such-a-such timescale so lets delay this to fit there shall we’ to even things out. Or even worse the Microsoftist ‘we are doing so well on iPhone sales we don’t need to spend time, effort and money on something new at the moment fellas’. Well guys its time to pull yer fingers out and actually prove you aren’t all on loungers in the Caribbean with your phones on silent drinking new versions of the coolaid Jony cooked up in his off time.
…. use of punctuation would help understand the rant!!
In summary, to counter what I think your saying …
Apple Inc. “skate to where the Puck is going, not to where it has been”. They release capabilities incrementally when the market is good and ready & then they provide a product that leaps ahead!!
What if Apple’s product road map to glory is indeed bubbling with gosh-wow ideas that would startle a dead cow upright. What if the miles-long product pipeline is a cornucopia of glittering wonders to render the hardest cynic mute. That seems the view from inside the secret castle. Yet what if the timeline for rollout is off by a year or so? It has seemed so. By the time stuff pops out it’s old hat. If Apple’s clock lags the real world, unlike a stopped clock it can never be right.
I honestly would like to see the sales numbers on the echo. I bought one to try it, and I do like it. But I have a hard time believing it’s a raging success simply because of the utility of the device and amazons track record of rigging their site in their own products favor. Also because some suspicious usual suspects of fud are gushing about the products success constantly.
I use my echo and Siri for my Hue lights all over my house. I’ve found the Echo to be hugely popular with Amazon Prime members who shop a lot. It makes repeating a previous order extremely easy. And don’t think these folks (ladies in most cases) are going to give that up easily. And since they are Amazon prime members, they have Amazon video, usually a fire and Amazon Prime music. Imagine all those Apple Music subscriptions and Apple TV sales that are lost because of shopping ease. I’m Prime and don’t listen to music often so Amazon works for me. I’m curious to see what Apple can put out to compete with the Echo.
I also have prime. But I have Apple Music, and no offense, but your comment reads like an advertisement.
What I’m saying is, Amazon says it’s a success, and the ususal fud people are trumpeting it, which rings completely false to me. If Amazon were to say “this is he revenue from our devices category” then we could reasonably infer what devices are contributing the revenue. But they don’t do that…. They say “this is the most popular product on Amazon, and it s huge success” with absolutely no backing, and the same Microsoft apologists who spread fud for years are trumpeting it without question. Which means it’s a coordinated effort and is probably false
Siri is a platform. Echo is a device. Apple will leave it up to 3rd party developers to make a talking/listening speaker if they want to.
http://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/16/06/09/wwdc-2016-apples-siri-and-the-future-of-voice-vs-amazons-alexa-echo-google-now-microsoft-cortana
Distinction without a difference.
Amazon is one of the most successful product distribution platforms on the planet, and Echo is obviously one more access point to it. But the Echo is a pointless investment since the vast majority of people are mobile and carry phones with them everywhere they go. There is no incentive for Apple to create a new me-too Siri can for your kitchen when everyone already has iPhones.
Furthermore, I strongly question the security of any home automation device. They’ve all been hacked. You can be sure that Amazon or some criminal will find a way to turn it into a spy listening post.
That said, Amazon is light years ahead of Apple with its media offerings and TV integration. If Apple wanted to be a big player in home AI/integration/media, it had its chance to make Apple TV a stellar product and it failed miserably. Apple lost its chance for relevance in the living room by puttering around with a hobby for a decade instead of polishing a finished and valuable set-top box that delivers unique and top-quality media. Apple does not. Your smart TV or Roku or whatever already has all the services you could want built in, with a better interface than Apple gives you — and it looks like Apple TV will never include Amazon video.
I’ve had the echo for about a month now and I love it.
That said, I did a comparison between the Echo and Siri, and believe it or not, Siri can still do more then the Echo can.
For example, ask Echo to tell you your calendar for next week – it cannot do it. I don’t know if its limited because of the way Google Calendar is, or if they just didn’t think end-users would wanna know that.
The Echo cannot read your email nor does it have a way to configure it for email. Siri can read email from different sources that an end-user configures from the iOS settings app.
Unless you download add-ons from the Echo app web site, it is very limited in what it can do out of the box. Apple needs to pounce on that limitation, and it has to do it quickly.
Microphone and internet connection together as one, and always on, why is that good?
While my Echo is locked away in a sound insulated room, my friends who have Echoes are QUICK to answer that. They say, “I don’t deal drugs. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. But if Amazon wants to hear the joys of my sex life, Echo on.”
Nah, I’m fine with Siri being everywhere I am, on my iPhone, and soon (hopefully) my Mac. That’s the key with Siri.
Not to by overly paranoid, but who wants a device capable of listening to every sound in your casa? Thanks to American hero, Verax, citizens would be stupid to bug their own homes.