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

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

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 271 posts

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

#101

Post by alex43578 »

chaostheory wrote: post #29
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…

Right or wrong, at least he takes risks. Apple Vision Pro was launched two years too early, but you can’t say that he just realized on existing products.

2 years early? I don’t think the time for Vision is now, or even 3 years from now based on the hardware and use cases.

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

#102

Post by alex43578 »

PlunderBunny wrote: post #67
Jgrubb wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll settle for "gets voice to text right most of the time". Seriously, Apple is so far behind on the cheapest table stakes at this point I highly doubt their high standards is the issue.

Yeah, but isn't the voice recognition (as opposed to voice comprehension) separate from the supposedly LLM powered bit of Siri? I want better voice comprehension too, but I don't think that moving to a LLM powered Siri will solve that.

Wouldn’t it? Something like Whisper is great for recognition, and is built on a transformer architecture, like most of the SOTA voice stuff is.

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

#103

Post by seec »

neya wrote: post #53
FranklinJabar wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

"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" Have you used a Samsung? Apple's AI miserably fails in every comparison out there in the photos app. There's also Google Photos with Gemini which helps you find any photo you want with AI better than anyone else. But sure, Apple has the best AI in…

That's just the typical Apple distortion field.

I have been using Apple devices and supporting many of their users for over 20 years, and they are all extremely invested in their choice of computing device. It's really a source of pride for many of them, weirdly. For this reason, anything Apple does is necessarily better than everything else on the market. It's a bit pointless to argue because they come from an emotional standpoint; if you point at the many things not working properly, they always have an excuse to handwave it away. It's really funny because I use Apple stuff, and I find many qualities in it, but I'm unwilling to be blind to the faults and weaknesses.

This sort of ego investment exists for other brands as well; I think it is a lack of emotional maturity and an inability to realize that a brand does not care if you do not fully "love" their products.

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

#104

Post by Lio »

alex43578 wrote: post #99
Lio wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that people have been saying that Apple will be left behind since the Apple II. That they keep doing non-obvious things that somehow succeed is what makes them an interesting company. I don't know that Apple will dominate AI, personally I dislike Siri and iOS, but I think Apple have a very good shot at delivering workable local AI for professionals. If Apple can lift the inference performance of their…

I don’t think Apple or Microsoft (via Windows) will dominate AI. There’s just too much value in the AI being in the cloud (big powerful models vs local) and across your devices (more context on you, running on low powered edge devices like watches, glasses, smart home devices), and the idea of an OS being a decisive factor is already fading with how much work people do in a browser or cloud app.

I think there's room for multiple approaches here.

Cloud based AI obviously has a lot of advantages e.g. batched proccessing on the best hardward, low power edge devices, data sharing, etc.

There's still room for local inference though. I don't know that I want "more context on me" all the time. I want some context, some of the time and I want to be in full control of it.

I'd pay for that. I don't think it will be for everyone but a number of people would pay a premium for an off shelf product that provides privacy and control that cloud vendors by their nature just can't offer.

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

#105

Post by simondotau »

snowwrestler wrote: post #55
strangeattractr wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is wrong. Google is a competitor both in devices and in the OS for mobile devices. Apple charge a premium that they justify by superior features, ease of use, effortless integration with other Apple products and so on. I wonder how well they will be able to produce differentiating iOS AI features whilst they use Gemini. I suspect it will more or less have parity with Android devices. If more and more int…

Google is not really a competitor to Apple in devices. I mean, they sell devices, but at a way lower volume. The Pixel phone is essentially a tech demo that exists to push their Android partners into making more competitive devices themselves. The corporate strategies are not directly comparable. The entire Android project is essentially a loss leader to feed data back into Google’s centralized platform, which makes…

Your framing fits well for the Nexus era and even the earliest Pixel iterations, where Google’s hardware largely functioned as a reference implementation and ecosystem lever, nudging OEMs into making better devices.

However, the current Pixel strategy appears materially (no pun intended) different. Rather than serving as an “early adopter” pathfinder for the broader ecosystem, Pixel increasingly positions itself as the canonical expression of Android—the device on which the “true” Android experience is defined and delivered. Far from nudging OEMs, it's Google desperately reclaiming strategic control over their own platform.

By tightening the integration between hardware, software, and first-party silicon, Google appears to be pursuing the same structural advantages that underpin Apple’s hardware–software symbiosis. The last few generations of Pixel are, effectively, Google becoming more like Apple.

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

#106

Post by coldtea »

tarsinge wrote: post #72
jannyfer wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Also, since AI will mean most are just let go, why would they need meeting minutes? AI would be so crucial as to be the make or break phone/laptop feature, but people would still have meetings?

At best they will use it to tell them for special offers that they can buy with food coupons.

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

#107

Post by tonyedgecombe »

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.

>My feeling is that they’re letting everyone move fast and break things while trailing behind and making safe bets.

That's what is happening but I don't think it was by choice. They clearly had plans to deliver a lot more and have repeatedly failed.

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

#108

Post by Lio »

GeekyBear wrote: post #33
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…

I'd say that after the Apple Maps launch, Tim Cook learned a lesson about allowing features that need additional work the time they need to fully bake. Google just launched the Pixel 10 with several promised AI features broken, and could really stand to learn the same lesson. https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-10-magic-cue-o... https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/09/google-pulls-daily-hu...

Apple Maps is still such a sucky service, at least where I live and where I travel to.

It regularly directs me to incorrect addresses and businesses and labels places obviously incorrectly.

Every use of the search function promotes guide content for a single city I'm not currently in, with no way to configure or turn them off. Good products should go out of their way to annoy you IMHO.

They only managed to get their cycle routing for the UK and Ireland working in 2025 after years and years of complaints.

I'm not a fan of Google but I feel compelled to keep Google Maps because Apple Maps is still so unreliable.

I'd offer the balance here that I still don't enjoy using Android and generally prefer iOS to it, warts and all.

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

#109

Post by tonyedgecombe »

zmmmmm wrote: post #95
lacker wrote: post #11

It doesn't surprise me that Siri continues to be bad - Apple's current plan is to use a low-quality LLM to build a top-quality product, which turned out to be impossible. What does surprise me is that Google Home is still so bad. They rolled out the new Gemini-based version, but if anything it's even worse than the old one. Same capabilities but more long-winded talking about them. It is still unable to answer basic…

I can't even get gemini on my phone, configured as my assistant, to schedule a timer. It just googles the answer now or tells me "Gemini can't do that". 16 years ago it was doing that perfectly.

That's all I use Siri for. I'll be really cheesed off if this gets lost in the new version.
Post reply on HN