Siri May Well Change Everything

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My new iPhone 4S arrived in the mail yesterday. I spent about 30 minutes backing up my old iPhone 3 and then activating and synching my new iPhone 4S. Having heard so much about Siri, I decided to take her - and the other voice recognition functions of the iPhone 4S for a spin.

I consider myself a smartphone 'power user' - I do more internet surfing, email processing, texting, Skyping, Facebooking, Tweeting, etc., on my iPhone than I do on my laptop.  I had no problems text messaging on numerical 'triple tap' phone keypads, I took quickly to typing on my old Samsung Blackjack, and I quickly adapted to the touch keyboard on my first iPhone.  I've also spent a lot of time over the years helping companies develop mobile websites and applications - and have always advised them to stay away from data entry if at all possible - even on smartphones. 

Now, after only a couple hours of acclimating myself to Siri and to using the voice recognition 'dictation' feature (powered by Nuance's Dragon Naturally Speaking) now present via the microphone icon on the virtual keyboard, I can only conclude that my iPhone usage is going to increase even further.  I also suspect the way I use my iPhone will fundamentally change - and that there will be major ramifications for mobile website and mobile application developers.

For example, previously if I wanted to know the temperature, I would flick through my applications and launch my 'Weather Channel' app. Then I'd wait for it to find me and update the weather. Now, I can simply hold my phone up, press the microphone when Siri awakens and say 'what is the temperature' - Siri tells me it is 48 degrees and shows me a weather forecast. Incidentally, NOT using the Weather Channel app I've been using for over a year to access the weather. Thus, I'm also not seeing any 'ads' that Weather Channel may be surfacing (and hoping to make revenue from).

Siri can also tell me how the stock market is doing, how many ounces are in a cup, what time it is in Melbourne, Australia and any number of other things that I might previously have determined from an installed application or that I might not have even taken time to check if I had to manually initiate a search using the Safari internet browser. 

Even more 'involved' tasks are easier. Previously, if I wanted directions to a restaurant, I'd open Safari and Google the restaurant name. Hopefully, the search results would include a map that I could click on and Google Maps would open and I could then seek 'Directions to here' from my 'current location'. Now I ask Siri and get to the Map faster. I can also 'speak' the address I want directions from if not my 'current location'.

Siri will make some simple applications obsolete or at least impractical or unprofitable to maintain.  At minimum, it will cause application developers to ensure they are offering real 'value exchange'. Why would I launch the Target mobile application to find the closest store when I can simply 'Ask Siri' instead? If I knew that I was likely to be offered a mobile coupon or other incentive if I searched using the Target application, maybe I still would. (Interestingly, Target's iPhone app has a 'speak to search' option that is also powered by Nuance. However, I found it was actually faster to use the iPhone's built-in speech recognition to fill in the search box than it was to use Target's 'speak to search' feature).

While Siri says she 'wishes she could help me with' Facebook or Twitter (surely a feature for the next version?), if I open these apps myself and go to the search field or status field, I can still use the built-in voice recognition to 'speak' a Facebook status update, a tweet or search string text rather than typing it. Even when the recognition wasn't perfect, I found it easier and faster to fix a couple of errors than to type a full sentence myself.  I also found myself speaking complete sentences in Text Messages and iMessage where I might previously have entered a message via the keyboard using 'text message shorthand' - and possibly reducing confusion on the receiver's end!

A few other things Siri made easier: I was able to text and call people directly without searching for them first in my contacts, I was able to search for - and reply verbally to - an email without opening the email application, I was able to play music simply by asking Siri to play the song title or play an artist, I was able to ask Siri if I had upcoming appointments in my calendar and to set reminders.

Clearly, Siri will raise the bar in terms of application user interface - consumers (at least iPhone users, and the other phone manufacturers are likely already scrambling) will soon expect 'voice recognition' to be a given. Likewise, whereas touch screens and physical keyboards made completing forms on mobile websites less painful than on numerical keypads, voice completion makes form completion even less of a barrier. 

Of course, noisy environments and privacy issues will still require support for manual entry - but it can only be a matter of time before applications (or the phone?) can determine whether the user is in an environment where speech recognition is likely to work! 

I for one hope the rumored Apple reinvention of the TV includes Siri and voice commands - then people won't look as silly when they are talking to their TVs...and maybe they'll even be able to control or influence the storylines!

Comments below, email me at todd@mobile-perspectives.com or follow me @toddshingler on Twitter.