“The iPhone’s talking pal Siri has, to date, been about as helpful as an umbrella in a hurricane,” Geoffrey A. Fowler writes for The Wall Street Journal. “That’s about to change. At the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted new features and catch-up software tweaks, from the iPhone and Mac to the Apple Watch and TV. One of the few technologies that spanned all those products was Siri, the virtual assistant that lets us talk and interact with gadgets like they know us. Siri is growing up, and moving to the center of Apple’s universe.”
“Apple was one of the first tech giants, back in 2011, to build talking tech into everyday devices. At the time, they called it a beta, and it’s felt like test software for too long. Siri now receives over 2 billion requests a week. Even so, when I ask Siri to help with something, it often just pops up a random search or misunderstands in a way that makes me say, ‘Oh, Siri,’ like it’s a lost puppy,” Fowler writes. “Meanwhile, Apple lost ground to rivals like Google. The search giant’s Voice Search and Now services (currently being wrapped into its forthcoming Google Assistant) integrate data about our lives to predict what we need and respond with context. The most surprising threat to Apple’s voice dominance is Amazon, whose Alexa, built inside the Echo speaker, has become an unofficial member of my household. Why? It’s always a quick shout away, ready to perform basic tasks like set a timer or play a song.”
Fowler writes, “If Apple is to have a future beyond the iPhone, it will have to master voice.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Fowler has obviously never worn an Apple Watch. There, Siri works better than anywhere so far; certainly better than on any iPhone or iPad to date. And, there, on the wrist (for the last year, no less) is where you can clearly see the answer to our headline is “Obviously.”
Having access to a Siri that fulfills her promise is reason alone to own an Apple Watch.
For us, and for many others, Siri is markedly more accurate and useful on Apple Watch than it is on any other device. Why that is, we don’t know, but it is. Somehow, the Apple Watch units have a better microphones than our iPhone 6s Plus devices – for Siri, at least. — MacDailyNews, May 31, 2016