Like everybody else, I was not disappointed by iPhone 4S announcement. Everybody was expecting Apple to upgrade the phone, which Apple did with: new processor, camera, iClound, and iOS 5; however, it still has the same look and feel. Perhaps, that's why it's called iPhone 4S not iPhone 5.
"Siri" is now trending on Twitter. Though, I did not like the name but the idea of having a "voice controlled" personal assistant is very powerful. Siri does not, just, parse the words in a sentence but also makes sense out of it. This is a huge improvement and - sort of - a dream come true for a lot of us. I am sure that after Apple's announcement others are going to follow its footsteps.
Apple really needed something to exist in business for long term. The most powerful companies, today, are the ones who know the most about us. Sounds creepy, but that's really true. Think of Google and Amazon, both the giants know so much about us. That's why they can tailor their solutions for each of us.
Everybody was questioning Apple after it opened its data center in NC. Now, everything "really" makes sense. After the launch of iCloud, Apple launched Siri yesterday.
Siri will remain a beta product for sometime. It may not be a perfect personal assistant that you dream of, but it's a great beginning in Natural Language Processing space.
Now, here is the catch - Apple's data centers will not only be collecting mountains of data from iCloud but also be storing, managing, and analyzing voice queries using sophisticated natural language processing algorithms. Siri could, potentially, turn Apple into Google in terms of voice search – the next wave in search technology.
It’s a win-win situation for Apple. Apple may use Google search to retrieve results but all the "rich" data queries from Siri will remain with Apple. Google will not be able to use that data in any way.
Is Apple waiting to become Google of voice search? Only time will tell....
Thoughts?
