Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

mashable.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 286 posts

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#31

Post by CharlesW »

It's sort of sad to read a story about a story, and not be able to figure out which problems were created in the source vs. the retelling.

Mashable: "Right now, it looks like Siri won't be blown up and a [sp] rebuilt". Yeah, well, that'd most likely be a huge mistake[1] depending on your definition of "blown up" and "rebuilt", and also Siri's already been rebuilt twice.[2]

The Information: "One of Apple’s original plans was to launch its speaker without Siri included, according to a source." Of course — there are always contingency plans. To me, this is a much more damning comment about the Siri team than Apple's "vision".

[1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-...

[2] Mesosphere blog post, definitely reviewed and approved by Apple: http://archive.is/YNMLh

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#32

Post by defen »

maxpupmax wrote: post #21
enraged_camel wrote: post #3

>>"It was slow, when it worked at all," Williamson said. "The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me." As Steve Jobs said, once you become a VP you can’t make excuses anymore. You have crossed the Rubicon and need to start taking responsibility for the failures of your team. This guy has a lot to learn about leadership.

It's a terrible quote. Apple PR is going to be pissed with that guy.

He was fired in 2012 https://www.cultofmac.com/203032/apple-svp-eddy-cue-fires-ri...

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#33

Post by jamestimmins »

enraged_camel wrote: post #3

>>"It was slow, when it worked at all," Williamson said. "The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me." As Steve Jobs said, once you become a VP you can’t make excuses anymore. You have crossed the Rubicon and need to start taking responsibility for the failures of your team. This guy has a lot to learn about leadership.

My impression of Siri is that it was effectively R&D early on by the team that made it. To propose that Apple would purchase a company, and then expect an R&D product to support their level of scale without serious infrastructure changes, is a bit absurd.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#34

Post by Consultant32452 »

Twisell wrote: post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

The things you listed are my primary uses of Google Assistant, but here's some others. What time is it in [location]? What's the temperature outside? Change the temperature inside (nest). Turn off all the lights.

Really the only thing you can't do with Siri that I'm aware of is home automation. But I could be wrong about that.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#35

Post by phxrsg »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #34
Twisell wrote: post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

The things you listed are my primary uses of Google Assistant, but here's some others. What time is it in [location]? What's the temperature outside? Change the temperature inside (nest). Turn off all the lights. Really the only thing you can't do with Siri that I'm aware of is home automation. But I could be wrong about that.

Siri can do home automation with HomeKit and it actually works really well. The disadvantage here is that HomeKit has less supported accessories because, as I understand it, it's less open/requires certification of the accessory.

That said, for engineers in the crowd I know that I and others get around it by making a HomeKit RPi adapter for things that don't support it...

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#36

Post by veesahni »

Twisell wrote: post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

Google's voice recognition is excellent. I trust Assistant to help me throughout my day with a number of things now:

- Cooking & laundry timers

- Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home)

- Directions (Take me to the nearest X, take me home, etc)

- Checking hours of business (what time does X close today)

- Initiating phone calls (Call X)

- Checking weather (is it going to snow today? How cold is it right now?)

- Conversions (what's X ounces to ml)

- Quick stock checks (what's X stock price)

- Playing music around the house (play X on the kitchen speakers)

Additionally, I've found myself using Android's voice recording capabilities to dictate text all the time. It's just so much faster than typing or swiping.

I haven't an iPhone for a few years, so I can't compare with what Siri is capable of today.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#37

Post by ktta »

Team dysfunction seems to be a part of it. The 'head' guy for Siri, Dag Kittlaus left Apple to start Viv Labs in about a year since Siri was released. Their assistant Viv, looked pretty okay[1], and was since acquired by Samsung[2].

I feel if he had stayed on, Siri would have been better.

Samsung seems to be trying pretty hard to get people to use it[3]. It's relatively new so I'm interested to see where it goes, especially since it has the lowest market share.

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI07aeZqeco

[2]: https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/28/samsung-paid-around-215-m...

[3]: https://youtu.be/zlesUiYkp_4?t=55s

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#38

Post by Twisell »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #34
Twisell wrote: post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

The things you listed are my primary uses of Google Assistant, but here's some others. What time is it in [location]? What's the temperature outside? Change the temperature inside (nest). Turn off all the lights. Really the only thing you can't do with Siri that I'm aware of is home automation. But I could be wrong about that.

Actually I forgot a 4th usage, I also use Siri to switch my living room hue starter kit to my « cinema » scene from my sofa (all 5% red light).

For all other scenes I usually use the physical hue dimmer button because I’m standing.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#39

Post by spullara »

veesahni wrote: post #36
Twisell wrote: post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

Google's voice recognition is excellent. I trust Assistant to help me throughout my day with a number of things now: - Cooking & laundry timers - Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home) - Directions (Take me to the nearest X, take me home, etc) - Checking hours of business (what time does X close today) - Initiating phone calls (Call X) - Checking weather (is it going to snow today? How cold is it right now?) -…

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#40

Post by bigiain »

Shebanator wrote: post #14
enraged_camel wrote: post #3

>>"It was slow, when it worked at all," Williamson said. "The software was riddled with serious bugs. Those problems lie entirely with the original Siri team, certainly not me." As Steve Jobs said, once you become a VP you can’t make excuses anymore. You have crossed the Rubicon and need to start taking responsibility for the failures of your team. This guy has a lot to learn about leadership.

I know, right? I read this and instantly thought "man, I never want to work for this guy"!

I also thought "I never want to be this guy!"
Post reply on HN