Apple's competitors did not seem to take the company's dedication to creating and improving its voice assistant seriously when Siri was launched with the iPhone 4S in 2011.
However, when Siri proved to be a hit with iPhone users, they soon scrambled to develop their own voice-only artificial intelligence assistants that strive to dominate in the smart home.
This led to the development of the Amazon Echo, an advanced and dedicated speaker system for the company's smart home A.I. assistant Alexa, which in turn has been receiving rave reviews from satisfied users despite certain doubts when it was launched. This also meant that Siri is facing tough competition but Apple is not even shaking in its high-tech boots.
There have been some speculations in 2016 that Apple is secretly developing a dedicated device, much like the Amazon Echo, for Siri but the company has denied such rumors, saying it is focused on making Siri smarter and more conversational instead.
Apple Doesn't Want A Dedicated Siri Device
In an interview on Jan. 9, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president for worldwide marketing, seems to have scoffed at the idea of Apple imitating the Amazon Echo.
"Personally, I still think the best intelligent assistant is the one that's with you all the time. Having my iPhone with me as the thing I speak to is better than something stuck in my kitchen or on a wall somewhere," Schiller said.
If that is not a direct dig at Amazon Echo and Alexa, we don't know what is.
Schiller went on to remind everyone what Apple has been improving on in the past 10 years since the first iPhone was launched.
"Some of the greatest innovations on iPhone over the last 10 years have been in display. Displays are not going to go away," Schiller said. He also gave a clue as to why he believes Siri is a better AI assistant despite not having a separate device for it, although it was also a not-so-subtle dig at Alexa.
"[...] a disembodied voice is not going to show me what the picture is," he said.
How Siri Dominates The AI Assistant Race
Apple's stance on keeping Siri in its mobile devices is actually pretty smart because that means its AI assistant is everywhere, which is cool and creepy at the same time.
Just imagine how the Amazon Echo is usually just stationed somewhere in the house to turn it into a smart home. Compare that with Siri, which is always in people's pockets, bags, cars, and even in their ears. Siri is basically at a dedicated Apple user's beck and call everywhere, and it helps that Apple has also been working on making interactions with the AI assistant more "fun."
While Amazon is friendlier with third-party applications by extending the "Works with Alexa" certification, Apple is, instead, going more into product development like the Homekits, which will ultimately dominate a person's home. Ultimately, this means more earnings for Apple if the company plays its cards right.
