Thursday, November 17, 2011

Siri and its Future

Today I will be talking about Siri, a voice controlled personal assistant for Apple's iOS. The application uses natural processing to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to an expanding set of web services. With this product, I will be addressing the question of the week which is, "What social and economic forces shape communication infrastructure?" My answer to this question is accessibility and speed. The products that win out in the technological realm are the ones that have many features that prove its accessibility to information and how fast it can accomplish said tasks. The smart phone is a revolution of that type of access, with its 3G network and touch screen capabilities. Siri brings a whole new level of convenience to the "third screen" experience, with its voice processing capabilities. This level of hands-free accessibility could revolutionize the way we use technology. Google will seek to combat this competition by releasing versions of its own Google voice application, but Siri seems to be the most impressive one on the market to date. Google feels threatened by the amount of inquiries that will now be funneled through the Siri machine rather than their own. Ultimately, this ad-free, hands-free, companion-like personal assistant that Apple has released in its current iPhone 4S will shape the social infrastructure of communication.

1 comment:

Vincep34 said...

Last week I gave my presentation on Siri. I felt that the class found the topic engaging, as they had many questions and facts to contribute to the discussion. The discussion mostly consisted of the future of Siri and how it can change the way we interact with technology. By answering the question of the week, "What social and economic forces shape communication infrastructure?"I was able to more clearly understand how accessibility and quickness contributed to the infrastructure of communication. Siri is a social force in that it provides quick access to information and handsfree availability, and it is an economic force in that it is a front runner in its application, setting the bar for the smart phone industry.