Microsoft uses Apple's Siri to prop up Windows' new 'Cortana' virtual assistant
In a new ad released on Monday, Microsoft highlights the apparent inadequacies of Apple's Siri virtual assistant, which is pitted unfavorably in a head-to-head feature test with "Cortana," its Windows 8.1 analog.
Titled "Happy Anniversary," the commercial is done in Microsoft's recent style of leveraging Siri to denigrate Apple products, which usually puts an iPad or iPhone up against a comparable Windows device to point out their contrasting feature sets.
For its first spotlight on the Cortana virtual assistant, Microsoft chose to focus on contextual reminders, pitting Apple's latest iPhone 5s against the low-end Nokia Lumia 635 smartphone.
In the ad, Cortana is asked to set various reminders for an upcoming wedding anniversary. For example, a man asks for a reminder to tell his wife "happy anniversary" the next time they talk. Another reminder is set to buy roses when he's near a flower shop.
After each reminder is successfully set, the camera cuts to Siri, who says, "Oh no, I cannot do that," and "I can't do that either."
Finally, when it's time for the man to leave for dinner, Cortana pulls up a traffic alert showing the best route.
"Now that is a smart phone," Siri says.
Apple's Siri is capable of creating geo-fenced reminders, but the feature is limited to current iOS restrictions of "home" and "work." Microsoft's solution can pull from third-party services to inform users when they near a particular landmark or point of interest.
A report earlier in July said Apple is putting together a team of speech recognition experts for a neural network-powered Siri, which could bring faster and more accurate voice-to-text translation, as well as enhanced system-level functionality.
Titled "Happy Anniversary," the commercial is done in Microsoft's recent style of leveraging Siri to denigrate Apple products, which usually puts an iPad or iPhone up against a comparable Windows device to point out their contrasting feature sets.
For its first spotlight on the Cortana virtual assistant, Microsoft chose to focus on contextual reminders, pitting Apple's latest iPhone 5s against the low-end Nokia Lumia 635 smartphone.
In the ad, Cortana is asked to set various reminders for an upcoming wedding anniversary. For example, a man asks for a reminder to tell his wife "happy anniversary" the next time they talk. Another reminder is set to buy roses when he's near a flower shop.
After each reminder is successfully set, the camera cuts to Siri, who says, "Oh no, I cannot do that," and "I can't do that either."
Finally, when it's time for the man to leave for dinner, Cortana pulls up a traffic alert showing the best route.
"Now that is a smart phone," Siri says.
Apple's Siri is capable of creating geo-fenced reminders, but the feature is limited to current iOS restrictions of "home" and "work." Microsoft's solution can pull from third-party services to inform users when they near a particular landmark or point of interest.
A report earlier in July said Apple is putting together a team of speech recognition experts for a neural network-powered Siri, which could bring faster and more accurate voice-to-text translation, as well as enhanced system-level functionality.
Comments
Sad, sad Microsoft.
I just had Siri set a reminder to tell my wife Happy Anniversary tomorrow. Worked perfectly. Not sure what Microsoft is smoking. Must have Balmer trying to speak into it... Siri only understands human, not monkey.
LOL, Windows Phone...
Won't be long before Bing is unceremoniously dropped... LOL!
No Microsoft you are doing it wrong...
If Samesung has taught us one thing to get ahead in the market it's copy the complete look of the iPhone including case and OS, then let Apple sue but keep it in the courts until the original copied phone is no longer valid.
Actually, I am pretty sure your old photocopy machines are still working, you should grab them from out of storage.
Edit: offline processing would be nice (where possible). I think Google Now has this capability.
I just had Siri set a reminder to tell my wife Happy Anniversary tomorrow. Worked perfectly. Not sure what Microsoft is smoking. Must have Balmer trying to speak into it... Siri only understands human, not monkey.
That's not what was done in the commercial... He said to tell me to remind him next time he talked to his wife. That means if he or she, call, text, or email each Cortana will pop up a reminder. Siri most definitely can't do that.
That's not what was done in the commercial... He said to tell me to remind him next time he talked to his wife. That means if he or she, call, text, or email each Cortana will pop up a reminder. Siri most definitely can't do that.
I think we'll be seeing some very surprising updates to Siri soon.
That's not what was done in the commercial... He said to tell me to remind him next time he talked to his wife. That means if he or she, call, text, or email each Cortana will pop up a reminder. Siri most definitely can't do that.
I just tried exactly what the guy in the commercial asked Siri and Siri responded with my reminder. I can't be sure if it works until my wife calls me but Siri did not reject or misunderstand my command like in the commercial.
I just tried exactly what the guy in the commercial asked Siri and Siri responded with my reminder. I can't be sure if it works until my wife calls me but Siri did not reject or misunderstand my command like in the commercial.
Post a YouTube rebuttal. You'll get millions of hits.
Post a YouTube rebuttal. You'll get millions of hits.
Like 99% of smartphone users, I don't have a Cortana enabled device handy. And besides, it's not my anniversary ;-)
Actually I tried all of the examples and they all seem to work. But if I dig deeper it's unclear if it really will work. I tried the flower store and it just repeated my command and put it in my reminder list but only when I go to the remind by location does it lets me specify a store and a radius to trigger the command. So who knows what Siri or Cortana would ultimately do in the real world. Obviously, MS wasn't forthcoming in the real responses that Siri would give from these commands.
Maybe Siri isn't as automatic but more granular in the options you have. Seems backwards to me. You would think that MS would be more granular and Apple's would just do it automatically without the need to dive deeper into menus and maps.
"I live inside your iPhone, which runs iOS."
Cortina, does your phone run iOS?
"No, I'm sorry, it doesn't. Does that mean I don't get the job? I hate that question."
[End commercial]
I just had Siri set a reminder to tell my wife Happy Anniversary tomorrow. Worked perfectly. Not sure what Microsoft is smoking. Must have Balmer trying to speak into it... Siri only understands human, not monkey.
Unless tomorrow actually is your anniversary, I would recommend you delete that reminder asap. She might get the wrong idea and telling her that someone on the Internet was wrong is not going to cut it.
3 reasons to this logic:
1- if he don't do it at wake up: He is going to be in trouble
2- if his wife discover he is using his mobile to remember: He is going to be in trouble
3- If he wait for his wife to call to say Happy anniversary: He won't have a nice evening!!!
The fact that Samsung and Microsoft feel they have to attack Apple shows how dominant and powerful Apple really is. Way back in dinosaur days I was in sales (big tickets items involving dealing with large committees). My boss sent me to a number of professional sales seminars and Dale Carnegie courses. In every case it was made perfectly clear that the minute you mention your competitor you have lost. To mention your competitor gives them legitimacy, makes the customer think twice, indicates you are worried about them, and puts doubt in the mind of the customer who wonders why you are mentioning the competition at all. The customer doesn’t want to hear how bad the competition is from you. They want to hear how good your product is and how it will help them and solve their problems.
"No, I'm sorry, it doesn't. Does that mean I don't get the job? I hate that question."
[End commercial]
“Wait! I’ll... I’ll sell you my body! Granted, it’s still just a virtual body, but...”