ALL EYES ON SIRI AS APPLE WRAPS UP DEVELOPER SEASON
Like a dresseddown awards season, Apple’s WWDC conference concludes a three-month developer season. But will it end with a bang, as the Academy Awards do for the film industry?
It began with Microsoft’s Build in March and continued with Facebook’s F8 show in April and Google I/O in May. The quartet of tech behemoths are sharing their latest-and-greatest with developers to entice them to create new apps for products and services for the fall and beyond.
At Apple’s WWDC on Monday here, the company is likely to continue down the artificial-intelligence road led by its rivals with a smarter Siri digital assistant, which it will open to thirdparty developers. What does that potentially mean to consumers? Think of ordering an Uber ride or Airbnb room through Siri.
What has emerged this developer season is a laser focus on AI and its ability to stitch together technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and natural
language learning.
AI is a cornerstone in the plans for nearly every major tech company. Unlock its potential, and companies stand to haul in billions in sales while extending the reach of their computing platforms. (In addition to Facebook, Google and Microsoft, Amazon and IBM have pinned hopes on AI, increasing pressure on Apple.)
“It is absolutely not coincidental” that AI is a main theme at developer conferences, says Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot, a maker of domestic and military robots. “Apple, Google, Amazon are swallowing people (employees) specializing in AI.”
Where Apple’s competitors stand on AI:
Microsoft used Build to emphasize artificial intelligence and bots, software programmed to be human and conversational. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called bots “the new apps,” illustrated by a demo where bot-enabled technology booked travel and marked calendar appointments with voice commands.
Facebook took the concept further: It integrated bots into Facebook Messenger to enable businesses to sell flowers and clothing via chat, similar to how they would text with a friend.
Google introduced Google Home, a voice-commanded speaker similar to Amazon’s Echo. Google also rolled out an AI-powered messaging app, Allo; introduced Google assistant, which can answer questions and respond to contextual queries; and demonstrated a way to acquire apps without downloading them via the click of a link.
It is essential that Apple do the same, and with Siri, analysts say.
Siri is a “great symbol about how innovation has dropped at Apple,” says Holger Mueller, an analyst at Constellation Research. “At the time of its introduction (in late 2011), it was a breakthrough. But it fell behind because Apple did not understand advances in machine learning and did not innovate. This is an example of innovation asleep at the wheel.”
There’s another, kinder view of the situation. Apple is simply sticking to a winning formula it used to redefine a market, as it did with portable music players (iPod) and smartphones (iPhone), says Pat Gelsinger, CEO of virtual-software giant VMware.
“Apple has never been a groundbreaking tech company,” he says. “But it has done category creation like no one ever has. ... I look forward to how Apple consumerizes, industrializes and popularizes machine learning.”
AI matters to consumers. About 42% of iPhone users said they were more likely to purchase the next iPhone version with a vastly improved Siri, according to a survey of 2,144 people by customer-acquisition firm Fluent in early June.
“There are three reasons to talk about it publicly: For developers, for customers and for talent recruitment,” says Rob May, CEO of Talla, which builds intelligent assistants for tech workers.
In Apple’s case, it is a question of audience and competitive intent, says Matt Price, senior vice president of emerging businesses and corporate marketing at Zendesk, a cloud-based, customerservice software company. How will it capitalize on AI to stay in the frothy robotics race?