The New York Times offers an interesting story about Google and the competitive landscape of mobile. The headline is "As Web Search Goes Mobile, Competitors Chip at Google’s Lead." The central idea of the article is that while Google is used on the PC equally to discover information and to navigate to specific sites, on smartphones people go directly to apps such as Amazon, Kayak or Yelp. As a basic matter, that's accurate. However, quoting Danny Sullivan, the story also acknowledges that there's still a great deal of mobile search activity, which is dominated by Google. Indeed, accordin [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: SEM | Facebook: Facebook Search | Google: AdWords | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search

Engadget spotted and has archived a promotional video that suggests the Google Search App for iOS may be gaining Google Now support. That support might help boost usage of the Google Search App, which barely makes the iTunes Top 100. Google Now No Longer Android-Only? Google Now is Google's predictive search assistant, which tries to anticipate answers to things before you ask, such as travel times to destinations you frequent. Google Now is available for newer Android devices but not for the iPhone. Late last year, after two months of delay, an upgraded Google Search App was approve [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Google Now | Google: Google Search App | Top News

Last year the FTC asked Apple to disclose the terms of Google’s "default" search presence on iOS. This was part of the US government’s broader antitrust investigation of Google, which is now over. To my knowledge, none of that information made it out into the public eye. However, at approximately the same time, an analyst at Macquarie Capital estimated that Google was making $1.3 billion annually in paid search revenue from iOS devices. Macquarie speculated that Google returned about $1 billion of that to Apple as part of the agreement that made Google the default search engine on the S [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Top News

By now, everyone's used to Siri's wit. Tell her you love her, and Apple's Siri digital assistant may respond that all you need is love -- and an iPhone. Or that it will never work out. And she's got jokes for a variety of other queries. But who's the woman behind Siri? Or the man? Or the team? Because there are people, and Apple's hiring someone. Spotted via Zach Seward, Apple's apparently seeking a "Siri Writer." From the post on LinkedIn: We’re looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri’s known for ‘her’ w [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile

Apple Insider is reporting, based on a study by investment firm Piper Jaffray, that Siri today (iOS 6) relies on Google considerably less than it did in iOS 5. That's partly a result of the switch from Google's local data in Maps to Apple's own mapping data. However another part of the change is probably the addition of more non-Google sources of structured data to support Siri. In Piper Jaffray's previous study it found that Siri used Google or Google data to answer 60 percent of queries. Now that number has dropped to 30 percent. The chart below (via Apple Insider) illustrates who "w [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Top News

Google has released its long-awaited map app for the iPhone. And it delivers all the expected features: voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, traffic, public transit, Street View and so on. It's better than Google Maps for Android because it has been built or rebuilt "from the ground up" and didn't grow by accretion. The bottom line: it delivers. Yet it's also not 100 percent satisfying (at least in my initial test). I'm not sure what I was expecting. It's not integrated with Siri. You can't say "I need directions to San Francisco" and be taken to Google Maps, as you once could. Instea [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Top News

Just when you thought competition in search was effectively over, it starts to get interesting again. Over the past two weeks I've spoken to no less than four companies that say they are trying to reinvent "mobile search" for smartphones or tablets. I would almost guarantee there are more out there as well. These companies either believe Google is vulnerable in mobile or say they're trying to bring a fresh approach to content discovery that goes beyond what they believe has been done to date on mobile devices. A More Visual Approach Last week I wrote about KickVox, a new mobile search a [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Top News

Almost exactly three years ago then Google employee Marissa Mayer described "the perfect search engine" in an interview with IDG News. She said it would be one "that could understand speech, questions, phrases, what entities you're talking about, concepts. It would be able to search all of the world's information, [find] different ideas and concepts, and bring them back to you in a presentation that was really informative and coherent." Mayer went on to add: There are a lot of different aspects of research that need to go into building that search engine. You need to understand speech. You [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Google Now | Google: Mobile | Google: Voice Search | Top News

Got the new Google Search app on your iPhone or iPad? Here's a trick. Ask it, "What's the best smartphone?" The app will politely decline to say. The app will reply in one of two ways that I've found: "No one phone is right for everyone." "You'll have to decide for yourself." Don't have the app? Here's a video I made with both answers: [youtube width="560" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYH18JUFy04[/youtube] I'm guessing that Google decided to avoid an embarrassment Apple had earlier this year, when Siri was found to be suggesting phones other than the iPhone as the [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Google Search App | Google: Mobile | Top News

It's been just over a year since Apple's Siri was unveiled with the iPhone 4S. The latest version works with the iPhone 5 and newer versions of the iPad. Siri didn't cause an overnight revolution of how most search on their phones. Many iPhone users still type keywords into Safari and get back answers from Google. But Siri, along with mobile apps and mobile searching in general, are changing searcher habits and posing new challenges and opportunities for search marketers. The people at Alchemy Viral have created an infographic that covers a variety of things to keep in mind about how to bette [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: SEO | Infographics | Search Marketing: Mobile | SEO: Mobile Search

It would appear that Siri will be getting a little more searchy. As AllThingsD reported this afternoon Apple has hired William Stasior, the guy who took over at Amazon's search engine A9 after Udi Manber left for Google. While Siri isn't a search engine it can operate like one from a user perspective. With Stasior's hire Apple may be signaling it wants to go further in that direction. Stasior has an impressive search resume. He has worked at A9 since 2006; before that he was at Alta Vista as the "director of advanced development." There he "led the engineering team responsible for develo [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile

Two months ago, Google previewed a new Google Search app that it said would be coming to iOS, bringing with it what seemed a blend of Siri and Google Now-like features. Despite being submitted to the Apple App Store back then, Apple's still not approved the app. Why not? Apple didn't have any comment, when I asked last week. When I checked with Google, it simply reiterated what it said in August, that the app has been submitted. That leaves us with guesswork about why the app remains in limbo. Too Close To Core Functionality? One guess is that Apple doesn't like that you can both talk [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Google Now | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search | Top News

It's official. Apple's new Maps in iOS 6 have problems so serious that even Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a public apology about them. What does Apple do next? Going back to Google-powered Maps is unlikely but not out-of-the-question. More likely, Apple will push through the pain. However, it could reconsider whether maps really should be a a home-built product. Ripping Out Google Previously, Maps in iOS were largely powered by Google's mapping data (and remain that way in iOS 5). Google has been building its mapping product for years, something that makes sense for a search engine. Many s [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Features: Analysis | Google: Maps & Local | Top News

Right as all the negative Apple Maps stories were coming out, Google's Motorola division created an ad and Twitter campaign to argue that, unlike Apple Maps, Google Maps won't get you lost. The campaign #iLost, also promoted on Google+, used a specific address as an example of one that Apple wouldn't get right: 315 E 15th Street in Manhattan. As the Siri screenshot indicates, Apple Maps can't find this address. However Apple Insider says the address is a park and not a real street address at all. The blog argues that Google created a false example to make Apple look bad: The problem, [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile

Apple's iPhone 5 sales appear to be rolling along as the handset receives high praise in most reviews -- except for Maps. And as the drumbeat of criticism over Maps continues, some tech journalists wonder if this "fiasco" would have happened if Steve Jobs were still alive. The NY Times Joe Nocera calls Maps an "unmitigated disaster" and implies that Jobs would not have allowed the current Maps product to get out the door. However we'll never know the answer to that question. Jobs was a perfectionist but wasn't perfect. He made his share of miscalculations and mistakes. The iPhone 4's "anten [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Top News

Today at the iPhone 5 launch event Apple announced a thinner, taller and faster iPhone. (See Danny's hands-on first impressions.) Apple also reminded people of some of the software announcements made in June at its WWDC conference when it discussed the new iOS 6 extensively. Among the earlier software-related announcements that were showcased again today were Siri, Apple Maps and Passbook, Apple's mobile wallet. Apple said it will launch Maps/local search with "100 million POIs." It also showed off GPS turn-by-turn navigation and 3D imagery on its new 16:9 aspect ratio 4-inch display [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Top News

Bloomberg reports Siri's co-founder Adam Cheyer, has left Apple. Cheyer was one of the primary developers of Siri and is known as a "co-creator" of the popular Apple Voice Search product. Adam Cheyer's LinkedIn profile still has him currently working at Apple. He was the Engineering Director in Apple's iOS group. Apple nor Adam Cheyer have not confirmed the exit. Siri's Chief Executive Officer, Dag Kittlaus, left Apple shortly after the acquisition last year. What this means for Apple's Voice Search capabilities in the future? We know at the D10 conference in May, Apple's CEO, [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile

Although there were so-called "virtual assistants" before Siri, consumers had only limited experience with them and may not have even realized what they were dealing with at the time. United Airlines' "virtual agent" Alex is one such automated assistant, though it doesn't use speech and currently doesn't work on mobile devices. At least a dozen companies have created enterprise-focused assistants, based on "artificial intelligence," which today are mainly used for customer service online. However increasingly they extend into mobile and seek to offer Siri-like capabilities. Siri has become [...]

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No sooner did I hit "publish" on my earlier post, Google’s "Voice Assistant" Not Quite Siri-Smart But Most People Won’t Notice, than people on Twitter started responding that I was out of my mind. A couple of people cited a Piper Jaffray study, published yesterday, comparing the accuracy and breadth of Siri "search results" vs. Google in a "street test" in Minneapolis. Google Gets a "B+" Siri Gets a "D" In short Google was graded with a "B+" in terms of accuracy, while Siri got a "D." It's really an "apples to oranges" comparison, however. Let's take a look at the methodology. Piper J [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Google: Voice Search

At Google I/O this week Google introduced spoken search results, which mimic Siri's functionality on the iPhone. Siri had been a major point of differentiation between Android handsets and the iPhone, despite Google's preexisting voice search. The new Google female voice actually sounds less like a machine and more natural than Siri. And there are already a number of video demos favorably comparing Google's "Voice Assistant" to Siri (see below). Since Google didn't give her a name (or not one that we've heard yet), I'll call her "JB" for Jelly Bean. The following side-by-side video belo [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Siri | Channel: Mobile | Google: Google Now | Google: Mobile | Google: Voice | Google: Voice Search | Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines | Top News