In Apple’s WWDC Announcement, Siri Shines As MVP

Siri has become the spokesperson for speech recognition technology......

“Who is taller: LeBron or Kobe?”

This single, somewhat irreverent question — spoken in the general direction of an iPhone during Apple’s 2012 WWDC keynote by Apple’s iOS chief Scott Forstall — has almost nothing to do with smartphones or computers or technology in general; and yet it was, I would argue, the most important thing that was said on stage over the unpredictable course of Apple’s entire 90-minute hype-spectacle-cum-media-event on Monday afternoon.

Here’s why.

The question was asked of Siri, the iPhone 4S’ (and soon, iPad 3’s) virtual assistant. Siri retreated momentarily into the gadgetry brains of the iPhone, and then reemerged, responding in that immediately recognizable, slightly mechanical voice of hers: “LeBron James appears to be slightly taller.”

Forstall’s query was meant to demonstrate one of several new knowledge bases that will come to Siri in the upcoming iOS 6 update: You will soon be able to ask your iPhone for sports scores, games’ scheduled start times and historical information about athletes, as well as for restaurant information and reservation availability, and also for movie times and reviews and actor and actress and director filmographies.

What the question really demonstrated, however, is that Apple’s strongest, most dazzling weapon in the war to differentiate its iPhone from All Those Other Smartphones just received a fresh stockpile of ammunition. Thanks to a series of shrewd advertisements, “Siri” has become public shorthand for the magic and innovation of Apple, a technology one can only access on the iPhone; it is Apple’s most unique feature on its most financially important product, and the marketing team knows it. These updates will allow Apple to continue its Siri-driven advertising assault: Soon, you will see Peter Dinklage attempting to locate well-reviewed Peruvian diners in Williamsburg, or Werner Herzog asking Siri for Albert Pujols’ career batting average, or whatever.

And those commercials, like their predecessors, will score very well with television viewers and will probably sell many millions more smartphones for Apple. Deceptive advertising lawsuits be damned: The minds that have written the zeitgeisty Zooey/Samuel L./Malkovich Siri commercials have an entirely new set of functionalities to write around.

“Who is taller: Lebron or Kobe?” is a perfect summation of everything that Apple wishes to project onto its voice assistant, accurate or not. Siri is represented in Apple’s TV advertisements as an infinite font of artificial knowledge and capability, a character and personality of whom you can ask anything and who can retrieve any information before you can snap your fingers.

As anyone who has used Siri can tell you, that representation is wishful thinking: Siri is neither very fast, nor infinitely brilliant — not yet, anyway.

What Siri is, however, is a money-generating machine. See, the iPhone makes up well over 50 percent of Apple’s revenue — in the second quarter of 2012, for example, iPhone sales represented $22.7 billion of Apple’s total $39.2 billion revenue. The major driving force behind all of those iPhone sales? Siri. You haven’t been able to turn on a television in the past eight months without seeing Zooey Deschanel asking her iPhone if it’s raining, or John Malkovich demanding Siri provide him with the meaning of life.

In the past eight months, since the release of the iPhone 4S, Apple has produced 15 commercials that advertise the iPhone 4S. 11 of them, including seven of the past eight, focus directly on what one can do with Siri. Apple is selling tens of millions of smartphones per quarter, and it is selling them on the mystique and seemingly limitless potential of Siri.

Financial importance aside, there is good reason for Apple to tout its voice assistant above all of the other facets of iOS: Siri is, after all the single feature that most clearly distinguishes the iPhone from every other smartphone. Apple’s other major iOS announcements of the day — Facebook integration, turn-by-turn navigation, video chat over 3G, responding to incoming phone calls via text message, a VIP inbox for email — were all, every single one of them, already available on either Android or Windows Phone or both.

Though these announcements have been getting a lot of attention from the tech press, and were received by the hoots and hollers of the iOS developers in attendance, the truth is that each of these “new” features really represented Apple playing catch-up to a competitor, in some cases by adding functionality that has been available elsewhere for years.

With enhancements to Siri, however, Apple is not playing catch-up. It is already far out ahead of its competitors: Android’s Voice Actions and Windows Phone’s Tellme applications simply cannot compete with Siri’s sophistication, or breadth of functions, or, especially, in the simple fun it is to use and explore and show off to friends.

Siri is also, unlike Android Voice Actions and Windows Phone’s Tellme app, incredibly camera friendly and an absolute revenue magnet. If Siri can now reckon the comparative height of two star basketball players — without even hearing their last names, at that — it means even more money for Apple, in Apple’s most valuable product sector.

At WWDC, new notebook computers, with some of the finest specs that (lots of) money can buy, were announced. Dozens of new operating system features were unveiled, as was a whiz-bang, Google-taunting Maps application, the integration of Facebook into iOS, and several impressive additions to Apple’s upcoming Mountain Lion OS X for traditional Mac computers.

And yet it was Siri flawlessly and quickly answering a mundane question about basketball that Apple should be most excited about: LeBron is taller, Siri is smarter, and the bewitching Apple advertising juggernaut shall parade forward.

“Siri, is THAT rain?” Yes, Zooey. It is rain — the rain of ever-more money showering down upon Apple’s heads thanks to an incremental update to its killer feature. Now get inside and order yourself some tomato soup: The NBA Finals are about to start.

 

Follow Jason Gilbert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gilbertjasono

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via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - Siri has become the spokesperson for speech recognition technology...... “Who is taller: LeBron or Kobe?” This single, somewhat irreverent question — spoken in the general direction of an iPhone during Apple’s 2012 WWDC keynote by Apple’s iOS chief Scott Forstall — has almost nothing to do with smar ...

Strong Gains Expected for Speech

We have been hearing growth predictions for the speech recognition market for years. This time I believe it really is true.........

The voice recognition software developers industry had a few years of static during the recession, but rising disposable incomes and technological advances have helped it rebound strongly, according to a new report from IBISWorld.

As the healthcare sector increasingly streamlines record-keeping and similar tasks, voice recognition software is gaining in popularity as a way to conveniently transfer those records. But, while strong growth is expected on the back of mobile Internet devices, open-source software could stifle traditionally strong profit margins, the report warns.

According to the report, revenue for the voice recognition software developers industry is expected to increase an average of 2.3 percent annually to $1.1 billion during the five years to 2012. In 2012 alone, industry revenue is expected to grow 5 percent due to a 7.9 percent increase in private investment in computers and software.

However, the industry has not experienced growth across the board. “Industry revenue declined during the recession when corporate profits and per capita disposable income fell, causing private investment in computers and software to decline,” said IBISWorld industry analyst Kevin Culbert.

Luckily for industry operators, improvements in per capita disposable income and corporate profit are expected to drive industry growth in 2012 as individuals and companies spend more on products that incorporate voice recognition technology. The software developers in this industry license products to companies that produce mobile and consumer devices, including cell phones and global positioning systems. The contracts are often based on a per subscriber or volume base. Consequently, an increasing number of connected devices ultimately boost industry revenue. In 2012, the industry will benefit from a 28.8 percent increase in the number of mobile Internet connections.

In addition to a rising number of mobile Internet connections, industry revenue has been boosted by a growing number of healthcare providers that have adopted electronic health records (EHRs). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, enacted in February 2009, gives tax incentives for healthcare providers that adopt EHRs. This factor, coupled with a growing number of physician visits, has caused demand from the healthcare sector to rise over the past five years.

In the five years to 2017, IBISWorld estimates industry revenue will increase. According to Culbert, industry operators will continue to benefit from increased investment in computers and software, rising demand in downstream markets, and a growing number of devices that incorporate voice recognition technology. In spite of this factor, the industry is expected to experience more competition from open-source software providers. Although this factor will limit profit margin growth, recent industry consolidation will ultimately mitigate this effect. In the five years to 2012, the number of firms operating in this industry has declined at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent to 34.

Market share concentration within the industry is moderate. The four largest players account for more than half of all industry revenue. The two largest players, Nuance Communications and M*Modal, have rapidly expanded their share of the market during the past five years. Nuance has grown by an average of 18.2 percent per year as a result of its aggressive acquisition streak. The company has purchased eight other players to enhance its product offerings and reach new markets. Meanwhile, M*Modal has increased its U.S. industry-specific revenue at an average annual rate of 5.3 percent due to its own high level of acquisitions. As such, these players have outpaced industry growth and captured an increasing share of the market.

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via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - We have been hearing growth predictions for the speech recognition market for years. This time I believe it really is true......... The voice recognition software developers industry had a few years of static during the recession, but rising disposable incomes and technological advances have helped ...

What’s better than Apple’s Siri? Android’s Tap & Speak, that’s what.

How good is 's tap to speech  ASR and TTS powered virtual assistant for Android compared to Siri?

“Number one, dispose of this. I’ll stick with my Android.”

It might be old news to some of you but for me, since I’m still discovering Android’s awesomeness, Vlingo’s Tap & Speak is a Siri killer. I wish Vlingo would port Tap & Speak to the iPhone. I’d pay $4.99 for it. I might pay more. I’d pay something to have a productive App like that at my disposal. Tap & Speak has a very cool ‘Driving Mode’ which allows you to use your phone for calling and texting without having to wreck your car to do it. Hands down (pardon the pun), Tap & Speak is way better than Siri.

Watching my wife get frustrated enough with Siri to fling her new iPhone 4S across the room and yell, “Siri is useless!” is enough to make me realize that I don’t need or want Siri. I have an iPhone 4, so I don’t have a choice but even if I did, I wouldn’t use it. I’m sure some people find it useful and helpful but I’m not one of them. Neither is my wife. Our 18-year-old son doesn’t use Siri on his 4S either. I believe he colorfully compared Siri’s usefulness to the operational nature of a vacuum cleaner.

I don’t think Siri is necessarily bad but I do think it requires some training and practice but there are no help files nor is there a website that helps train users how to better use it. And, before you give me that whole, “Apple is intuitive” thing, let me say that Siri is not your typical intuitive Apple application nor is it intuitive.

Tap & Speak gives me examples and a step-by-step how-to on first use. I like that. I also like that I can tap or just say, “Hi Galaxy” to begin a new conversation. No, Tap & Speak isn’t perfect but it’s a level above Siri. I can actually be productive with Tap & Speak. Siri is cute but virtually useless for me–the few times I’ve used it, that is.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big Apple device fan. In fact, if you’ve read this blog from the beginning, I didn’t want an Android device. At all. It was thrust upon me. But, the longer I use it, the better I like it. It has some really cool features that I wish my iPhone 4 had. One is the ability to connect to the device’s lower level self. With my Android phone, I can SSH to it from another computer or open a console to the OS from the device itself.

OK, not everyone needs to do that but I rather like having that feature. I don’t want to even think of jailbreaking a device just to get some “should be included from the factory” features.

I’m especially excited by Vlingo’s merger with Nuance. If you don’t know, Nuance is the company that makes Dragon Naturally Speaking software, which is the best speech recognition software on the market. I foresee a truly intelligent conversational device control coming soon to just about everything near you.

With the blend of those two intelligent speech recognition software companies on the same team, I think we’ll soon be able to actively navigate to addresses in our cars, make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages and do all sorts of SciFi-type things using voice recognition. With superior voice recognition and communications plus Google Car type self-driving cars, even the visually impaired will be able to drive a car. These are exciting times.

You might find it somewhat of a stretch from making a phone call to driving a car but that’s just the way my mind works. Too bad I don’t get paid to come up with ideas and solutions for new products. I’d really like that gig. Heck, I came up with the idea of a self-driving car when I was a kid. I knew it could be done and I knew how to do it but convincing anyone to listen was the hard part. Now, with Siri and and Tap & Speak, I have a built-in audience for my ideas, my jokes and my disruptive dialog.

The best part is that, so far unlike their human counterparts, they just have to listen.

What do you think of Siri vs. Tap & Speak? Talk back and let me know which you think is superior.

ZDNet |by Ken Hess on June 12, 2012

via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - How good is 's   tap to speech  ASR and TTS powered virtual assistant for Android compared to Siri? “Number one, dispose of this. I’ll stick with my Android.” It might be old news to some of you but for me, since I’m still discovering Android ’s awesomeness, Vlingo ’s Tap & Speak is a Siri killer. I ...

Apple Siri: ‘Cute’ But ‘Unsuitable for Business’? Experts Disagree

This cloud-based speech recognition processing really a security risk?

At a press conference in Helsinki this week, F-Secure veep Maria Bordgren reportedly said Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant available to iPhone 4S users, was unsafe to use at work.

However some researchers think she may be overreacting. 

“Four out of 10 users don’t worry about corporate data and don’t think it will leak. Take Siri, it’s cute right, I like it, but if you ask it a question, the data is not stored on the iPhone - it goes to a datacentre in Oregon,” Bordgren said at a press conference in Helsinki this week, according to V3. 

Theoretically, if attackers got their hands on this data, which mostly consists of search words and personal commands, they could leverage the information to hack into corporations. 

It’s true Apple collects and processes data coming in and out of Siri. According to Apple’s software license agreement, “When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text and, for Siri, to also process your requests.” The iPhone 4S also sends Apple information like first name and nickname, details about those in your contact list, and song names in your music collection, though “it is not linked to other data that Apple may have from your use of other Apple services.” 

“If anyone was interested in that information you’re screwed,” she said, according to ZDNet. 

Bordgren was also concerned over Apple’s alleged lack of corporate security policies. Security Watch gave Apple a day to refute this, but unfortunately it didn’t get back to us. A couple weeks ago Apple released a “security whitepaper” about iOS clearly aimed at convincing IT managers that its mobile OS was safe for the workplace. 

Last month, IBM blocked cloud applications, including Siri. IBM chief information officer, Jeanette Horan, apparently told a reporter the company was “just extraordinarily conservative.” 

Overreacting?
Is Siri really “unsafe for business”? According to a couple researchers we spoke to, Bordgren (and IBM) might be overreacting a bit. 

“I doubt Apple uses that data for anything [malicious] and I seriously doubt anybody else has access to that data,” said Accuvant researcher and legendary iOS hacker, Charlie Miller.

“Most people don’t tell their inner most secrets to Siri, I suspect. But if you are totally paranoid, I suppose you should turn it off.” 

Catalin Cosoi, head of BitDefender’s research labs, said that if hackers really wanted to steal Siri data, they probably wouldn’t try to hack into Apple’s servers. “They usually they go through other routes,” he said. 

“Besides, other services like Gmail, Facebook, they all store much more data in the cloud than Apple does. Why target Apple?” 

Greater Threat on iOS: Apps 
Cosoi said IT managers should be more concerned about employees downloading apps with excessive access to user data. BitDefender recently launched Clueful ($3.99, 3 stars), an app that quickly scans other iOS apps for permissions. 

For instance Clueful discovered that the app Family Doctor was pulling users’ emails and text messages every half hour, without users’ knowing. 

Like Android, iOS uses a permission-based system too, but it works very differently. Instead of listing permissions upfront, you download the app first and the app will push out alerts asking for your permission to access certain resources when the app needs them. If you’re determined to use an app, you probably blindly tap ‘OK’ to everything.

But even with this model in place iOS apps aren’t explicit enough about required permissions. That’s how Path got in trouble—in February, users of the popular social networking app discovered that the app was exporting (through unencrypted means) entire address books and storing them in their servers

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via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - This cloud-based speech recognition processing really a security risk? At a press conference in Helsinki this week, F-Secure veep Maria Bordgren reportedly said Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant available to iPhone 4S users, was unsafe to use at work. However some researchers think she ma ...

Apple To Begin Installing Siri In Cars

 Siri's speech recognition and text-to-speech functionality will help drivers in some of the most popular car brands to keep their eyes on the road.....

 

Siri will begin to be installed in cars, replacing traditional navigation systems. (Photo: ifehacker.com)

Apple has revolutionized the technology and communication market with the introduction of its iPhone and they are now looking into incorporating that software into a brand new market: cars.

Apple is working to install Siri, its popular voice-enabled personal assistant software, into automobiles. It would allow drivers to access the company’s in-house Maps service with navigation features and traffic updates.

Navigation systems have been on the decline as more drivers switch to using smartphones for directions, particularly the use of Google Maps. Add in Apple’s “Eyes Free” feature, which allows users to access Siri by pressing a button on the steering wheel, and Apple looks to have the making of a very successful business venture.

At least eight car manufacturers are considering using Apple’s Siri button while three, GM, Honda and Toyota, have confirmed plans to use the software. It will will allow drivers to access their iPhones to call people, play music, hear and dictate text messages, ask for directions, find calendar information and more.

The move benefits Apple in two ways. First, it makes the iPhone even more valuable as it further increases the phone’s use. In addition, it could lure customers into using more and more apps.

For car manufacturers, it creates a relationship with a very popular brand and technology, which will only help lure more customers.

The implementation of Siri into cars will hurt Apple’s competition and may force them to make changes. Shares of Harman International Industries Inc., manufacturer of audio devices, fell about 10 percent on Tuesday after Apple announced plans to put Siri in cars. The shares of other navigation system makers, Garmin Inc. and TeleNav Inc., also fell.

Meanwhile, wehicle navigation systems maker TomTom NV saw its stock rise 15 percent rise when it completed a deal to license its maps to Apple.

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via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog -  Siri's speech recognition and text-to-speech functionality will help drivers in some of the most popular car brands to keep their eyes on the road.....   Siri will begin to be installed in cars, replacing traditional navigation systems. (Photo: ifehacker.com ) Apple has revolutionized the technolog ...

Google Glasses may translate directional sound, speech for the deaf

The Google glasses combined with speech recognition will touch people's lives in many ways. Here is a great example.......

As Google engineers continue to push forward on the development of Project Glass, features included within a recent patent may greatly benefit the hearing-impaired community.

Detailed within a patent related to Google’s Project Glass, the search company is developing a feature on the glasses that will offer text alerts for hearing-impaired users when something dangerous is approaching like an automobile. Specifically taking direction and intensity into account within the incoming audio data, the display on the glasses would show directional arrows and flashing lights that increase in intensity when a loud noise approaches the user. For instance, when a hearing-impaired person is crossing the street, the glasses would indicate if a nearby car is honking and point the user in the direction of the noisy vehicle.

In addition to directional sound, Google is also attempting to work speech recognition into the glasses. Hypothetically, the speech-to-text feature would determine what a nearby person is saying and display the text of the conversation on the display of the glasses.

According to the patent, Google would differentiate between people standing in a group by displaying a text bubble in a position on the display that is closest to whoever is currently talking. Beyond displaying the text on the display, the glasses would also indicate what type of object or living being is making a sound. For instance, if a dog is barking, the display would indicate that fact.

Also included in the patent, the glasses will include multiple video cameras and microphones to capture several angles in addition to a “finger-operable touch pad” that would accept user commands. Google also laid out a scenario where the video feed from the front-facing camera will be combined with computer generated images in order to create an augmented reality for the user. That augmented reality display could include anything from an overlay of GPS direction when walking down the street to marketing advertisements when a user looks at a particular shopping store. 

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via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - The Google glasses combined with speech recognition will touch people's lives in many ways. Here is a great example....... As Google engineers continue to push forward on the development of Project Glass, features included within a recent patent may greatly benefit the hearing-impaired community. De ...

Beyond Siri: Breaking down the Virtual Assistant market

NLP or natural language processing combined with speech recognition is what makes virtual assistants work so well.

Helped by Apple’s successful launch of its Siri technology in 2011, voice-activated mobile virtual assistants (VAs) have crossed the chasm into mass-market deployments. Apple’s product triggered a wave of both imitation and innovation in the last year, including tens of smartphone applications. This was only for starters. Developers, speech recognition and AI vendors, telcos and handset manufacturers are now all working on bringing the next-generation VA to life.]

Read more about the evolution of virtual assistants from 1995 to 2015 in the full report (free download)

Apple got a head start by embedding Siri in its UI, but Samsung is now countering with Samsung Voice. And Nokia is also working on a Siri-like interface, our sources say. Telecom operators are also warming up to the idea; some VA integration with RCS could hit the European market in early 2014.

With technology advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) — in particular Natural Language Processing (NLP), user profiling and search – VA technology is moving from understanding language to anticipating user intent. As such the focus for virtual assistant apps is shifting from today’s command-and-control (“I ask, you answer”) towards continual dialogues of recommendations and user actions. Established vendors such as SRI International, Apple, Google and Nuance as well as challengers like Artificial Solutions, Dexetra and i-Free Innovations, are all working on this shift from commands to dialogue. SRI International is to showcase a back-and-forth dialogue technology by fall 2012.

With the advances in VA technology, virtual assistant personalities will move from devices to the cloud due to the immense amounts of data needed to process. With personalities stored in the cloud, virtual assistants will become readily and seamless available not only on smartphones, but also on TVs, in cars, and in smart homes. Established cloud storage and processing companies like Google and Amazon stand to benefit the most.

 

Virtual assistants are disrupting ad-based business models

Traditional search and ad-based business models are being disrupted. Delivering answers rather than search results, is a core value proposition of virtual assistants. For traditional search engines, this translates into decreasing page hits and consequently to a fall in search advertising revenue. Google has seen declining search traffic from iPhones following the launch of Siri, according to our sources. Disruption to advertising business models (read Google and Facebook) arises as virtual assitants become a point of convergence for user profiling data. By amassing deep knowledge of user search terms, VAs can become pivotal to third parties wanting to target users by interest.

Amidst these disruptions, we expect Google to launch a free Siri alternative across multiple smartphone platforms, hardwired to Google’s search results and advertising revenue streams.

Google’s open speech recognition API creates traction for Android. It also means more efforts required by licensing SR vendors to attract and keep voice-based app developers.

 

Exploring business models for virtual assistants

Paid downloads generate little revenue for VA vendors today. The 43 VA apps we looked into generated under 2 million USD, despite over 133 million downloads. Nearly 86 percent of paid download revenue were on iOS. What VA vendors are actually focusing on today is to build a large user base in order to cut intersting third-party content and service distribution deals for the future.

Moving forward, we see revenue coming in from search and advertising and, increasingly, from third-party deals and avatar customisation, rather than from paid downloads.

 

Virtual assistants as a discovery control point

As virtual assistants move from being apps to becoming access points for personalised service discovery, they will become strategic distribution channels for both mainstream and niche service providers.

Moreover, context-based user profiling opens new opportunities for contextual marketing and advertising, by letting brands push more user-relevant messages, offers and recommendations through virtual assistants.

Siri was just the beginning.
Don’t forget to download the full report – and send us your feedback!
- Marlène

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08Jun2012

dang1970

Siri is a failure, it’s novelty worn off. Hardly anyone uses it.

 

08Jun

arthurguru

Speech recognition by computer is riddled with many impossibilities that make it unreliable and user unfriendly – which contradicts its purpose. Synthetic speech by computer tends to annoy people enough that they switch it off.

These technologies have been in development for many years yet the user experience remains unchanged.

google.com

via http://www.speechtechnologygroup.com/speech-blog - NLP or natural language processing combined with speech recognition is what makes virtual assistants work so well. Helped by Apple’s successful launch of its Siri technology in 2011, voice-activated mobile virtual assistants (VAs) have crossed the chasm into mass-market deployments. Apple’s product ...