Hello, Siri! About a month back, messages from all over the flooded Apple offices all over the world. It was the birth anniversary of one of the greatest innovators of our times, Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs talked about how people in his office felt embarrassed by Siri and thought he had lost his mind in the process of marketing it. But Jobs saw what no one else could.
In 2011, what started off as a voice integration program, would turn out to be a turning point in the history of technological innovation and goes by the name of SIRI.
The beginning
Adam Cheyer, who’s also known as the father of Siri, started his work with computers in the 90s.
He was quick to realize that there would come a day when humans would want to interact with machines in a conversational manner.
He then started working on a prototype, which later became Siri. There were over 50 versions of this technology built.
But it was the release of the first iPhone that gave him the opportunity to sync it with a machine for real.
Over the years, Cheyer and his counterparts worked on making a more marketable and commercial version of this technology.
He later sold the technology to apple for $200 million. It wasn’t kept as just an app but the core strategy across multiple Apple devices.
Siri, in its full glory, was launched on 4th October 2011, a day before the demise of Steve Jobs.
Hey Siri, what’s up?
Siri is a virtual voice controlled assistant of Apple Inc. It responds to the query of the users by speaking back to them and presenting relevant information regarding the same on the home screen.
A very occurring question pops up almost every day regarding the voice of Siri. Susan Benett, a voiceover artist hired by ScanSoft, lent her voice to Siri.
This is just a report by CNN, as Apple has never made a formal statement about the same. Siri started off with Apple iPhone 4s and now operates on all Apple devices, including iPads and Macbooks.
What can you do for me today, Siri?
Siri might seem complicated to use at first but it is incredibly helpful once you get the hang of it. A wide range tasks can be on your devices can be handled by it.
You can create reminders, set alarms, take notes, and mark conferences. It can also make changes to system settings.
It adapts you personality of language and hence weaves even better tailor-made responses for you. You can use it to search for movie times, scores, weather forecasts or even prepare grocery lists.
It helps you to call people hands-free and FaceTime with people the same way, without even having to bother to even look at the phone. Siri has made a remarkable mark in the infrastructure industry as well.
It is now being used to control activities in a smart home. It also helps with navigation. In case you’re getting bored, you can always look up to her for fun conversations.
