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Hmm, I think this will be a tough market to compete in for Apple. I think it's generally accepted that Siri is the worst of the assistants out there right now a

by Sargos 9y ago

Hmm, I think this will be a tough market to compete in for Apple. I think it's generally accepted that Siri is the worst of the assistants out there right now and that underlying technology will drive this entire new product. I really think Apple is going to need to decide between privacy and AI research as they are struggling to keep up and having a product like this will only make that gap more pronounced.

jeckylee 9y ago
Exactly. I use Siri on my iPhone, also tried Google assitant app recently, having an echo at home too. Siri is way worse than the other two in terms of speech recognition and features. I felt Apple is better off to completely buy Google as the back end and simply focus on the hardware, where is their strength.
- mozumder 9y ago
  I think this is less a Siri device and more a home-TV device. My understanding is that this device includes a screen. Right now I could use a 17" 16:9 iPad with a stand and maybe an optional detachable keyboard, as I find I'm using my 12" iPad Pro more and more for TV/movie viewing. I could use something like that for a bedroom nightstand. I don't think Siri will be the focus of this product. I hope not, at least, because it definitely isn't the top assistant. Apple's strength is it's device media capabilities, and they should exploit that instead.
  - JCharante 9y ago
    Bloomberg said that the device won't have a screen, and will instead focus on having a better speaker.
- vlunkr 9y ago
  That's interesting. I've always thought echo was much much worse at speech recognition. It also does ridiculous things, like my toddler asked it what bread is, and echo proceeded to tell us about Bread, the rock band... Granted, Siri tends to just open up a web search.
vannevar 9y ago
The problem may not be the Siri software, it may be the iPhone hardware. I believe the Echo has a pretty sophisticated microphone setup that is light-years better than an iPhone's. Apple is generally pretty good at hardware, so they could catch up quickly there.
- bobsam 9y ago
  The last 1/3 of your comment contradicts the first 1/3 :)
  - Spare_account 9y ago
    Not only that, but his middle sentence is comparing apples to oranges.
    - vannevar 9y ago
      That was in fact the point. Siri might work in a speaker orange a lot better than it works in an iPhone apple. ;-)
  - asdfologist 9y ago
    One describes Apple in general, while the other points to a specific exceptional case.
  - bronxbomber92 9y ago
    Not really. The HW design trade-offs would be very different, leading to hardware optimized for different purposes.
  - vannevar 9y ago
    The iPhone is a phone, with all the space and power limitations inherent in that form factor. A standalone speaker is something else entirely.
    - IanDrake 9y ago
sjg007 9y ago
? what do privacy and AI research have to do with each other ? Many many people will buy a Siri speaker. It's an ecosystem.
- sgk284 9y ago
  Privacy in the sense that you can train better AI systems when you have more data. Apple has many self-imposed and restrictive policies around collecting data and what type of data they collect, so they inherently have a disadvantage when it comes to building better AI systems.
  - sjg007 9y ago
    Ok, but all of that data is on your phone and devices. You could theoretically train there.
    - GhostVII 9y ago
      Most of your data (ex. search history) is not reliably stored on your phone, and even if it was it would be much better to train on the server side instead of making your phone do all of the work. Also, they probably train using data from everyone, not just one user.
      - sjg007 9y ago
        OK, but apple can store your data encrypted on their servers or on your phone and still train data models... Privacy can be preserved.
ebbv 9y ago
Privacy versus AI research is a false dichotomy. Apple has been very candid about how they are able to maintain privacy while using data responsibly. It's in the interest of Google, Facebook and others to get us to believe we have to give up our privacy, that it's the cost of advancement. But it's baloney. It lets them be lazy and continue to use us (the users) as the product for their real customer; advertisers. But it's just not true.
pavedwalden 9y ago
Although their (commendable, IMO) limits on data collection may be a handicap, I think the extremely narrow Siri API is a bigger problem. At first I thought Apple was behind Amazon in terms of opening up the possibilities of using voice commands for more than a few simple things. But so much time has gone by and Siri is still so limited that I'm beginning to wonder if they have any intention of catching up.

by Sargos 9y ago

jeckylee 9y ago

Exactly. I use Siri on my iPhone, also tried Google assitant app recently, having an echo at home too. Siri is way worse than the other two in terms of speech recognition and features. I felt Apple is better off to completely buy Google as the back end and simply focus on the hardware, where is their strength.

mozumder 9y ago
I think this is less a Siri device and more a home-TV device. My understanding is that this device includes a screen. Right now I could use a 17" 16:9 iPad with a stand and maybe an optional detachable keyboard, as I find I'm using my 12" iPad Pro more and more for TV/movie viewing. I could use something like that for a bedroom nightstand. I don't think Siri will be the focus of this product. I hope not, at least, because it definitely isn't the top assistant. Apple's strength is it's device media capabilities, and they should exploit that instead.
- JCharante 9y ago
  Bloomberg said that the device won't have a screen, and will instead focus on having a better speaker.
vlunkr 9y ago
That's interesting. I've always thought echo was much much worse at speech recognition. It also does ridiculous things, like my toddler asked it what bread is, and echo proceeded to tell us about Bread, the rock band... Granted, Siri tends to just open up a web search.

vannevar 9y ago

The problem may not be the Siri software, it may be the iPhone hardware. I believe the Echo has a pretty sophisticated microphone setup that is light-years better than an iPhone's. Apple is generally pretty good at hardware, so they could catch up quickly there.

bobsam 9y ago
The last 1/3 of your comment contradicts the first 1/3 :)
- Spare_account 9y ago
  Not only that, but his middle sentence is comparing apples to oranges.
  - vannevar 9y ago
    That was in fact the point. Siri might work in a speaker orange a lot better than it works in an iPhone apple. ;-)
- asdfologist 9y ago
  One describes Apple in general, while the other points to a specific exceptional case.
- bronxbomber92 9y ago
  Not really. The HW design trade-offs would be very different, leading to hardware optimized for different purposes.
- vannevar 9y ago
  The iPhone is a phone, with all the space and power limitations inherent in that form factor. A standalone speaker is something else entirely.
  - IanDrake 9y ago

sjg007 9y ago

? what do privacy and AI research have to do with each other ? Many many people will buy a Siri speaker. It's an ecosystem.

sgk284 9y ago
Privacy in the sense that you can train better AI systems when you have more data. Apple has many self-imposed and restrictive policies around collecting data and what type of data they collect, so they inherently have a disadvantage when it comes to building better AI systems.
- sjg007 9y ago
  Ok, but all of that data is on your phone and devices. You could theoretically train there.
  - GhostVII 9y ago
    Most of your data (ex. search history) is not reliably stored on your phone, and even if it was it would be much better to train on the server side instead of making your phone do all of the work. Also, they probably train using data from everyone, not just one user.
    - sjg007 9y ago
      OK, but apple can store your data encrypted on their servers or on your phone and still train data models... Privacy can be preserved.

ebbv 9y ago

Privacy versus AI research is a false dichotomy. Apple has been very candid about how they are able to maintain privacy while using data responsibly. It's in the interest of Google, Facebook and others to get us to believe we have to give up our privacy, that it's the cost of advancement. But it's baloney. It lets them be lazy and continue to use us (the users) as the product for their real customer; advertisers. But it's just not true.

pavedwalden 9y ago

Although their (commendable, IMO) limits on data collection may be a handicap, I think the extremely narrow Siri API is a bigger problem. At first I thought Apple was behind Amazon in terms of opening up the possibilities of using voice commands for more than a few simple things. But so much time has gone by and Siri is still so limited that I'm beginning to wonder if they have any intention of catching up.