New York-based programmer, journalist and photographer Dan Nguyen was so excited about the release of the Google Voice Search app today, that he tested it against Siri on the most pressing news of the day. As you can see from the screen shot, the results were not pretty for Ms. Siri.
Nguyen reports that the Google app responded almost immediately and returned a search page with very appropriate results, even though it misunderstood “do†as “too.†Siri, on the other hand, paused longer before misunderstanding the question as referring to the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, who “appear to be in first place in the Southeast right now.â€
Whoops! Siri misinterpreted that query, and also, since the season has not begun because of the lockout, they cannot actually be in first place (they finished in last place, last year).
I confirmed Nguyen’s findings on my iPad 3, except in my case the Google app correctly understood the word “do.â€
A somewhat more mischievous tester (posted on imgur.com, identity unknown, but first name perhaps Mike?) tried Apple‘s recently ousted VP in charge of  iOS, Scott Forstall. I confirmed this one as well, but in this case it seems as though Siri is exercising some corporate obfuscation by acknowledging that Forstall has (had!) something to do with Apple, but not saying exactly what!
In concluding his post, Nguyen makes the same point that I have made before, Google’s “big data†is a big advantage. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Google voice search is to Siri as Google Maps is to Apple Maps,†he contends. “And while some might argue that Apple’s data-weak, inaccurate maps are still more stylish, the Google search app is executed far more beautifully than Siri. That, plus the immense voice data that Google has been collecting, plus…well, Google’s search expertise…makes it hard to see how Apple can even compete here.â€
Obviously, Google was farther along with this product than they are with their version of Google Maps for iOS, but I did find it interesting that it is battling Apple on voice search before maps. A problem for both Google apps for iOS users is that Apple does not make it possible to swap out its default apps in iOS, which I think is a major problem. A comment exchange on the Hacker News thread relating to Nguyen’s post addressed this issue. About being able to access native functionality in iOS from a Google app, jonknee wrote, “You can get pretty close, the tel URL scheme will let you make calls. MFMessageComposeViewController will let you send texts. Calendar stuff is already possible with Google Calendar so that could work pretty easily.â€Â thefreeman replied, “Its not that they couldn’t do it. Its that they are expressely prohibited by Apple’s patents. (something about a unified search interface for your phone as well as the web.)†[I am double checking the veracity of this idea and will post about what I find.]
How much better does Google Voice Search have to be than Siri before Apple users want it as a fully integrated experience? At what point would it ever make sense for Apple to admit to specializing in hardware (and user experience) and cede back some territory to Google on data and software? The answer, I fear, is that it will take a “Perfect Storm†to dislodge Apple from its present course. Fortunately, Siri can find that in Wolfram Alpha!
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