Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#71

Post by tokioyoyo » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:10 AM UTC

jannyfer wrote: post #68

nilkn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just my opinion: Apple doesn't need to solve AI. It's not core to their business in the same way that search engines aren't core to their business. What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This is why they're spending so much more on mixed reality than AI, even knowing that a product like the Vision Pro today isn't going to be a big s…

> What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This was true maybe a decade ago, but not so now (under the watch of Tim Cook). You listed Mac hardware becoming popular in the age of AI as examples of "unexpected wins". Maybe that's true (I don't know if it is) - but Macs were only 8% of Apple's 2025 revenue. Apple has become an iPhone com…

I’m not sure how to say it without sounding like an Apple fanboy, but Tim Cook has been the CEO for the past 15 years. Every single year people have been whining how “he’s not visionary and etc.”, but at some point you have to give him some credit. Apple of 2026 has completely different landscape versus apple of 2010/earlier. Scaling from millions to billions of sales is incredibly hard, and he’s been able to accomplish it.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#72

Post by tarsinge » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:11 AM UTC

jannyfer wrote: post #68

nilkn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just my opinion: Apple doesn't need to solve AI. It's not core to their business in the same way that search engines aren't core to their business. What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This is why they're spending so much more on mixed reality than AI, even knowing that a product like the Vision Pro today isn't going to be a big s…

> What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This was true maybe a decade ago, but not so now (under the watch of Tim Cook). You listed Mac hardware becoming popular in the age of AI as examples of "unexpected wins". Maybe that's true (I don't know if it is) - but Macs were only 8% of Apple's 2025 revenue. Apple has become an iPhone com…

I get your general point but specifically regarding :

> have it diarized, send out minutes, grab relevant info and surface it before the next relevant meeting

Slack already has this integrated and it works quite well.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#73

Post by pjmlp » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC

dabinat wrote: post #14

I feel like the difference between Steve Jobs’ and Tim Cook’s leadership styles is that Cook is really good at optimizing existing processes, but does not have the vision to capitalize on what’s next. Apple got into the smartphone game at the right time with a lot of new ideas. But whatever the next big shift in technology is, they will be left behind. I don’t know if that is AI, but it’s clear that in AI they are al…

Apple is in a better situation now than with Gil Amelio, thanks to printing money with iDevices.

However everything else is quite similar for those of us that were around.

Except now there isn't a Be or NeXT to acquire, nor the former founder to get back.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#74

Post by siva7 » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:32 AM UTC

Whatarethese wrote: post #69

azinman2 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Siri has had many, many, many engineers on it for a while.

I wish I could be assigned a project and make no progress in over a decade and still have a job.

Why would you want to be forgotten?

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#75

Post by saghm » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:32 AM UTC

FranklinJabar wrote: post #42

dabinat wrote: post #14

I feel like the difference between Steve Jobs’ and Tim Cook’s leadership styles is that Cook is really good at optimizing existing processes, but does not have the vision to capitalize on what’s next. Apple got into the smartphone game at the right time with a lot of new ideas. But whatever the next big shift in technology is, they will be left behind. I don’t know if that is AI, but it’s clear that in AI they are al…

> it’s clear that in AI they are already far behind other companies. I think it's exactly the opposite, actually. They've integrated AI flawlessly into existing products to an extent nobody else has even come close to. Photos, for instance, makes better use of AI than any other photo management app in existence. If anything, ChatGPT/Microsoft/Google/etc are absolutely crippled because they don't have access to the da…

If you haven't used any of Google's services with your actual data for over a decade, there's a pretty simple explanation about why you don't remember any times you've interacted with one of their AI integrations for those services, and it has nothing do with the relative quality of them.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#76

Post by vachina » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:37 AM UTC

jannyfer wrote: post #68

nilkn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just my opinion: Apple doesn't need to solve AI. It's not core to their business in the same way that search engines aren't core to their business. What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This is why they're spending so much more on mixed reality than AI, even knowing that a product like the Vision Pro today isn't going to be a big s…

> What Apple does best lies at the combination of hardware, software, physical materials, and human-computer interface design. This was true maybe a decade ago, but not so now (under the watch of Tim Cook). You listed Mac hardware becoming popular in the age of AI as examples of "unexpected wins". Maybe that's true (I don't know if it is) - but Macs were only 8% of Apple's 2025 revenue. Apple has become an iPhone com…

> Siri sucks so hard that people switch away

I don’t think people choose iPhone for the Siri.

> my colleague can use their Pixel phone to record a work meeting

I think lots of startups are tackling this in this space. Hardly a native feature. Attainable an app install away

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#77

Post by coolandsmartrr » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:37 AM UTC

0x4e wrote: post #22

sampton wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair no one has solved ai assistant at consumer level yet.

I agree. It’s still being figured out. My prediction is that Apple is the hardware and platform provider (like it’s always been). We’re not asking them to come up with a better social media, or a better Notion or a better Netflix. I think their proprietary chips and GPUs are being undervalued. My feeling is that they’re letting everyone move fast and break things while trailing behind and making safe bets.

Funny you should mention social media in the context of Apple, because they seem to have been attempting that with iTunes Ping[1] and then Apple Music.

iTunes Ping was a Jobs-era attempt to create a social network for music. It seems that they were trying to rely on integrating with Facebook, who pulled out of the collaboration in the last minute before Ping's release.

Apple hasn't seem to have given up on social networks for music. Apple Music presents a nascent networking feature where users can see what their friends are listening to.[2] It seems that Apple has learned their lesson from Ping and does not rely on a third-party for a social graph, which is instead powered by iOS contacts.

While social media is not Apple's bread and butter, they have maintained their interest in having presence in this market. I would assume that this stems from Apple's overall desire to maintain influence over on-the-top services that define the iOS experience. If they let third parties flourish even further, thirds parties gain leverage that they can use during negotiations with Apple. If third parties successfully negotiate for more features that creates parity with apps on non-Apple devices, Apple loses its differentiation on the device markets, thereby losing revenue.

(I think Stratechery wrote about Apple's service strategy that was motivated by its past relationships with Adobe and Spotify. Couldn't find the link.)

> We’re not asking them to come up with a better social media, or a better Notion or a better Netflix.

You're right that we haven't asked them for better on-the-top services. But it seems to be in Apple's interest to compete with third party services providers and make sure they do not supersede Apple in terms of their influence over on-the-top experiences.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Ping

[2] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iphdf490a9e9/io...

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#78

Post by vachina » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:41 AM UTC

PlunderBunny wrote: post #41

Given the way current LLMs hallucinate, and given that Apple (presumably) won’t accept this behaviour in Siri, I’m skeptical that existing technology (or existing technology scaled up) can ever create the Siri Apple and its customers want.

Yeah. Apple don’t half ass things. This is why people take their products seriously.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#79

Post by csomar » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

dabinat wrote: post #14

I feel like the difference between Steve Jobs’ and Tim Cook’s leadership styles is that Cook is really good at optimizing existing processes, but does not have the vision to capitalize on what’s next. Apple got into the smartphone game at the right time with a lot of new ideas. But whatever the next big shift in technology is, they will be left behind. I don’t know if that is AI, but it’s clear that in AI they are al…

They have a software issue (I mean who doesn’t) but Cook has tried his hand in lots of products. Some worked like the airpod, airtag and watch; and a particular one flopped: vision. It’s a marvelous tech device that unfortunately had no demand.

Also the m series can be attributed to him and it’s as good as innovation can get.

Re: Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags

#80

Post by sockaddr » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 6:52 AM UTC

owlbite wrote: post #37

wronglebowski wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't doubt it, but what were they all doing? The Metaverse had 10k employees on it for multiple years and seemed to almost be a standstill for long periods of time. What do these massive teams do all day?

Have meetings to figure out how to interact with the other 9990 employees. Then try and make the skeleton app left behind by the team of transient engineers who left after 18 months before moving on to their next gig work, before throwing it out and starting again from scratch.

Exactly. What Meta accomplished could have been done by a team of less than 40 mediocre engineers. It’s really just not even worth analyzing the failure. I am in complete awe when I think about how bad the execution of this whole thing was. It doesn’t even feel real.