MouthLondon - London Student & Youth Magazine
Technology: Is Siri still really quite silly?
Pin ItI am not a fan of Apple products. However, recently, for work reasons and to increase my social interaction, I purchased an iPhone 4s. Now my life is obviously complete as I can do anything with this phone. From emailing to downloading the latest hits to blah blah blah. All jokes aside it is a very good piece of technology, but for all its marvellous features I noticed that Siri really isn’t that good.
Now I know that everyone has complained on this side of the pond that it doesn’t really work as it was developed wholeheartedly for the American market, but really it wasn’t developed for them. It wasn’t even the finished product.
…the idea that the next upgrade is all about Siri….
Let me tell you a story. Steve Jobs was dying. He had done everything possible to make Siri a perfect product, but it wasn’t working: server capacity wasn’t there, bugs were aplenty and the voice recognition technology wasn’t mature. But, he didn’t want to leave the consumer base that had listened to him and bought whatever he had peddled without a parting gift, so he released Siri as his final product.
People were joyous and they flocked in their droves to buy this upgrade and all was right in the world. But that’s where the story gets a bit sour. The world wasn’t right as they had released a Beta version of Siri (for all intents and purposes it wasn’t finished). I can understand the need to leave a legacy, but the idea that the next upgrade is all about Siri, and you add an S to the end of the product name which stands for Siri, is ridiculous when the product isn’t ready for the public.
…wouldn’t that have been a better legacy?
Today, it works well on US soil because the developers are working with an American tone and audience, but even they weren’t finished when the tech went to the shop floor. And the worst fact is it still doesn’t work even after almost a year in the UK. Sure you can have a bit of a laugh with it, but in an age where we really use our phones so much don’t we want a product that just works, hassle free, isn’t that what Apple is renowned for, and wouldn’t that have been a better legacy?
About the author
I'm the Editor of MouthLondon, with a specific control over our Online features and implementation. As a Film graduate with a particular interest in Scriptwriting, Production and Cinema, I enjoy talking about and making short films with a production crew of non professional enthusiasts.
Further articles by David Holloway | Editor →
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