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Related question that I was briefly pondering last night: is iOS only offering Siri anticompetitive? Should (will?) Apple have to open up and allow other agent

by mft_ 2y ago

Related question that I was briefly pondering last night: is iOS only offering Siri anticompetitive? Should (will?) Apple have to open up and allow other agents direct access in the same way Siri has? Either allowing user control over the backend that Siri uses for everything, or alternatively allowing other agents system access so that “hey Alexa” or “hey ChatGPT” are monitored and actioned the same as “hey Siri”?

herbst 2y ago
They will just invent some arguments why none of this is possible due to their _amazing_ security model.
harperlee 2y ago
Not a specialist here, but my understanding is that whether a service is or not anticompetitive is subject to how its market is structured. So e.g. if you're not a dominant market player then it "is" not anticompetitive ("is" in a pragmatic way, i.e. you will not be prosecuted), whereas if you are disrupting the market it is. All that to say that currently the market for voice assistants is nascent. No one has paid (directly) for Siri or Ok-google, and amazon can also make the case that you don't pay for Alexa, you pay for the device. Now that OpenAI has a better service, that is also unbundled from hardware, and understandably people might want to substitute Siri, then iOS only offering Siri can start to be considered anticompetitive.
- captn3m0 2y ago
  The relevant market might be “digital voice assistants on iOS”, similar to how recent rulings against the AppStore monopoly have used “AppStores on iOS” as the market.
- dagmx 2y ago
  You’re correct in that a market has to first be defined. I also wonder if the way that Apple is integrating OpenAI into Siri now is a gambit against such a thing. If Siri acts as a frontend to other competing products, then it likely keeps the wolves at bay so to speak.
pickledoyster 2y ago
The things a user is able to do with a locked iOS device are so useless and going away with new updates that I've given up. I don't think a different voice module does anything here if it gets the same $swearword 'direct access' Siri has now. For example: 1. Siri can run Shazam/Music Recognition on a locked phone, but has no Shortcut/Automation ability to copy over the song info to a native note, which is as simple as: 'Run Recognize Music; delay; Create note with $Title - $Artist in $Notebook; dismiss Siri; Stop.' If I try telling Siri to run this Shortcut, it asks me to unlock the phone. The Shortcut has 'Allow Running When Locked' set to ON. I guess Siri is limited in one of two ways: it is either unable to access Shortcuts or it can't run Music Recognition. The latter would be bonkers, since it can do that natively by me saying 'Shazam', and the former simply disrespects my settings and gives me no way of making it work. There used to be a workaround for this: you'd first enable Voice Control (an accessibility feature that's different from Siri, I guess), tell Siri to turn Voice Control on, call it out and tell it to run the Shortcut. It runs, but asks for a passcode as soon as it has to open the Notes app. Useless. 2. I can't start a voice recording without unlocking my phone, while I am able to launch the Camera app and start a video recording, which makes no sense to me. 3. I can't turn Location Services off without unlocking, which might be one of those instances where Apple thinks it knows better (i.e. the phone's stolen or I get kidnapped and the perpetrators can't turn location off as easily), but my default is having it off and using location only when I need it (e.g., navigating in an unfamiliar location, being lost, and... that's about it).

by mft_ 2y ago

herbst 2y ago

They will just invent some arguments why none of this is possible due to their _amazing_ security model.

harperlee 2y ago

Not a specialist here, but my understanding is that whether a service is or not anticompetitive is subject to how its market is structured. So e.g. if you're not a dominant market player then it "is" not anticompetitive ("is" in a pragmatic way, i.e. you will not be prosecuted), whereas if you are disrupting the market it is. All that to say that currently the market for voice assistants is nascent. No one has paid (directly) for Siri or Ok-google, and amazon can also make the case that you don't pay for Alexa, you pay for the device. Now that OpenAI has a better service, that is also unbundled from hardware, and understandably people might want to substitute Siri, then iOS only offering Siri can start to be considered anticompetitive.

captn3m0 2y ago
The relevant market might be “digital voice assistants on iOS”, similar to how recent rulings against the AppStore monopoly have used “AppStores on iOS” as the market.
dagmx 2y ago
You’re correct in that a market has to first be defined. I also wonder if the way that Apple is integrating OpenAI into Siri now is a gambit against such a thing. If Siri acts as a frontend to other competing products, then it likely keeps the wolves at bay so to speak.

pickledoyster 2y ago

The things a user is able to do with a locked iOS device are so useless and going away with new updates that I've given up. I don't think a different voice module does anything here if it gets the same $swearword 'direct access' Siri has now. For example: 1. Siri can run Shazam/Music Recognition on a locked phone, but has no Shortcut/Automation ability to copy over the song info to a native note, which is as simple as: 'Run Recognize Music; delay; Create note with $Title - $Artist in $Notebook; dismiss Siri; Stop.' If I try telling Siri to run this Shortcut, it asks me to unlock the phone. The Shortcut has 'Allow Running When Locked' set to ON. I guess Siri is limited in one of two ways: it is either unable to access Shortcuts or it can't run Music Recognition. The latter would be bonkers, since it can do that natively by me saying 'Shazam', and the former simply disrespects my settings and gives me no way of making it work. There used to be a workaround for this: you'd first enable Voice Control (an accessibility feature that's different from Siri, I guess), tell Siri to turn Voice Control on, call it out and tell it to run the Shortcut. It runs, but asks for a passcode as soon as it has to open the Notes app. Useless. 2. I can't start a voice recording without unlocking my phone, while I am able to launch the Camera app and start a video recording, which makes no sense to me. 3. I can't turn Location Services off without unlocking, which might be one of those instances where Apple thinks it knows better (i.e. the phone's stolen or I get kidnapped and the perpetrators can't turn location off as easily), but my default is having it off and using location only when I need it (e.g., navigating in an unfamiliar location, being lost, and... that's about it).