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How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

mashable.com

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

#171

Post by happertiger »

ebikelaw wrote: post #76
CharlesW wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? I found at least one measurement report: As of July 2017 Verto Analytics showed Siri on top[1] with 41.4M unique users per month (but falling), and Alexa with only 2.6M (but rising fast). [1] https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/11/siri-usage-and-engagement-...

Honestly my own experience makes me wonder how many of those "users per month" either accidentally invoked it by holding down the button on their phones or had Siri just pop up and start yakking because its hotword detection went wrong.

If they have an iPhone X, at least 92 percent of those users are the inside of a handbag or suitecase.

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

#172

Post by chris_wot »

xiaq wrote: post #67

> "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." Wow. It those were his original words, I don't doubt a bit that this guy should be responsible for Siri being left behind.

Which means that frequent releases could have fixed the bugs better. Wow, that's a terrible excuse.

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

#173

Post by happertiger »

jd20 wrote: post #114
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…

One of my favorite things that Alexa can do, which Siri still can't, is integrate with my Logitech Harmony and SmartThings hubs. This lets me control all my AV devices and Lutron Z-Wave lights using voice commands. I hear now there's an unofficial bridge (runs as a NodeJS service) called Homebridge which might get Harmony working with Siri, and Lutron has newer lights not using Z-Wave that are Homekit compatible, but…

Smartthings is the platform to beat for Apple. It’s simple, easy and incredibly powerful. I can’t understand why Apple doesn’t apply their magic to the model and just knock it out of the park. They have all of the pieces and the ux experience to make it exceptional.

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

#174

Post by happertiger »

I’m going on the record as not actually liking the name Siri. Pithy though that sounds, it’s the Sharon or Ralph name in digital assistants and I don’t even like saying it. Try saying “hey Siri” in a quiet room sometime and feel the awkward.

Also it doesn’t work.

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

#175

Post by chris_wot »

x0x0 wrote: post #165
IBM wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Forstall and his direct report were responsible for two botched product launches, Siri and Maps. This is a big blow to the camp suggesting firing Forstall was a mistake.

I think Job was responsible for the maps debacle. When you set hard deadlines for software release dates because you want to have tentpole features for IOS releases, and you mostly refuse to do widespread beta tests because then it won't be surprising, you're creating the maps debacle. Now I'm sure maps was harder than it looked, but I'd also bet lots of people on the inside knew that. They should have let the date s…

I honestly think Jobs thought that no problem is hard enough that you can't cajole or threaten staff into just working harder. You see it all through his career.

We are hitting territory where there are now problems so hard that it will now take time to create the software. He never got that.

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

#176

Post by singularity2001 »

tinus_hn wrote: post #122
IBM wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Forstall and his direct report were responsible for two botched product launches, Siri and Maps. This is a big blow to the camp suggesting firing Forstall was a mistake.

Siri may have stalled now but it definitely wasn’t a botched launch. And Apple maps may not work great in all cases but it did succeed in forcing Google to provide decent maps on iOS. Before Apple Maps the vector maps were an Android exclusive.

Do you have an idea how much Siri sucked and how much people hate(d) her?

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

#177

Post by dagaci »

Siri: I've notice a massive slowdown in the speed of Siri and an actual deterioration in voice recognition (but I've just assumed that this is just part of the general deterioration of iOS)

I would say that Siri has not only fallen behind but gone backwards.

I'm still running an iPhone 5s ;) because i dont like the direction of Apple have taken certain things (and Android terrifies me with the sheer volume of personal data collection)

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

#179

Post by icebraining »

ddingus wrote: post #151
hellofunk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to like Siri but I spend so much time correcting what it has misunderstood, it's nearly not worth using it. The Google alternative is, from what I understand, something that just works .

But it's not personified to the degree Siri is. I noted this elsewhere in the thread. Doing that bit of theatre, with some humor, pop culture relevant things, even just good responses, appears to matter more to people than "it can do it", and "it actually did it" hit rates. OK Google needs a name. Google is this big, smart thing. People get that. But, "Ask Siri" has less friction and appears easier to identify with t…

Or, let the user name it. Why not?

Supposedly these devices have low-power chips that can only recognize certain pre-configured names (like "OK, Google"), and then wake up the main CPU to do the rest.

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