Google Gemini Live takes on Siri via a standalone iOS app
Google is increasing the competition with Siri and Apple Intelligence on iPhone, by releasing a standalone iOS app for Gemini.
Google Gemini
Google's Gemini has been available to use for some time on the iPhone, but as part of the main Google app. Now, Gemini is available as its own standalone app for iOS, and is being framed even more as a personal AI assistant.
In an official blog post, Google explains that the app offers something called Gemini Live, a version of the assistant offering "free-flowing conversations." Using Live, users can have a back-and-forth conversation with Gemini, complete with the ability to interrupt mid-response, or to pause a conversation to pick it up later.
Gemini Live is available to Gemini Advanced subscribers, initially on Android devices and in English, with expansion to iOS and other languages anticipated within weeks.
Google is also making Gemini available with ten new voices, so users can select the tone and style of speech for their needs.
Google is also expanding the capabilities of Gemini to work with other Google apps and services. Building on its existing Gmail access, new extensions in the coming weeks will connect to Keep, Tasks, Utilities, Calendar, and some expanded features of YouTube Music.
The Gemini app itself is free to download. Gemini Advanced is priced at $19.99 per month, and includes 2TB of storage and other Google One Premium benefits.
While Gemini Live is a play to attract power users who demand enhanced responses from digital assistants, it still has to compete against Apple's ongoing improvements in the form of Apple Intelligence. As part of the changes, Apple is improving Siri itself, as well as integrating access to ChatGPT.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Google's AI assistant (whether it be Gemini or something else in the future) will never have as many capabilities as Siri. Apple simply won't allow third party assistants to have access to all of the user's data.
Go ahead, try it now.
Inquiry: "Gemini set an alarm for 7:15am"
Response: "Alarm request denied"
QED
In the end Joe Consumer will continue to use the assistant built into the device more frequently than turn to a third party app, even if the native one isn't the best at everything. It just needs to get the job done. There's also the security and privacy aspects.
Google's business model is monetize your online activities and sell it to advertisers. That's how they make the majority of their revenue. Apple's revenue model is completely different: they make most of their revenue via hardware sales and online services (Apple Music, Apple One, Apple TV+, Fitness+, etc.).
In the end all of the third party assistants will end up playing second fiddle to Siri.
Gemini's real competition (for iPhone users) isn't actually Siri but other third-party assistants and chatbots like Microsoft Copilot, Alexa, whatever Meta's thing is, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, et cetera ad nauseam.
In the same way Siri would never be able to dethrone Gemini on Android powered smartphones. Apple knows this so they don't try. Remember that Siri was a standalone third party app before Apple acquired them. If Apple really wanted to, they could try to push a Siri app for Android. But they don't, they know that it's a losing war. Their efforts as a third-party developer are mostly driven by potential for service revenue (Apple Music/iTunes, Apple TV, iCloud, etc.).
It's strange that after all of these years with Siri as a first-party assistant, there are people who still do not get this (journalists, pundits, technologists, and commenters).
"What is [insert Mom's name]'s birthday?"
In fact Gemini will create a long winded "Sorry I don't know" reply including the birthdates of a couple of celebrities/known personalities. Complete waste of time and unintentionally hilarious. This is how dumb LLM-powered AI chatbots are when they don't have access to private user-specific data. Zero common sense. The correct answer should be "Request denied due to privacy".
Remember that no consumer-facing LLM-powered AI chatbot is anywhere close to being release quality here in late 2024. It is all really alpha or early beta quality right now.
I'm not paying a dime to be some company's beta tester, especially one with a $2.12 trillion market cap. They should be paying US to eat their half-cooked dogchow.
But realistically, it is nearly impossible to avoid YouTube. There are too many people/companies who use it as their primary -- sometimes only -- video hosting platform. I've posted videos in the past to both YouTube and Vimeo and the former has 10-20x more views than the latter, plain and simple. And I didn't even monetize my videos.
Also as much as one might want to avoid Google Maps, there are some regions where Google Maps blows Apple Maps away (Japan is one such place).
Moreover you can't use Apple Maps on PC web browser. You need an Apple device (iPhone, iPad, Mac) so no business can use Apple Maps on a web page.
And here's how much Google Gemini is in maturity:
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/gemini-ai-tells-the-user-to-die-the-answer-appears-out-of-nowhere-as-the-user-was-asking-geminis-help-with-his-homework
Yes, I understand this is hearsay from a Reddit user of unknown trustworthiness but it's not the first time a chatbot has flown off the rails. And that's the obvious stuff, there are plenty of examples of chatbots just showing garden variety obtuseness.
And people want to pay $19.99 to be a beta tester? It's worse than nuts, it's a scam targeted at naïve dimwits. Gemini is not ready for primetime. Neither is ChatGPT. Neither is Claude. Neither is Perplexity. It's all alpha quality here in late 2024. Someday the quality might improve to arrive at beta level but not tomorrow, not next week, not by the end of the year.
LLM-powered AI chatbots are more a novelty than anything reliable here in late 2024. Now if you want to consider that $19.99 like a movie ticket in terms of entertainment value, be my guest. Just don't expect anything more.
https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/
And no restaurateur is going to sign up for Apple's Developer Program either. It's nice that Apple is working on it but they are years behind Google Maps.
The launch was a disaster and they are still trailing by miles. Like I said, Google Maps blows Apple Maps away in some regions. Apple Maps is so bad in Tokyo that half the times I use it, I have to switch to Google Maps. Which is a non-starter. Just start with Google Maps from the beginning.
Naturally Tabelog (their restaurant review site, like Yelp) uses Google Maps. Apple Maps definitely plays second fiddle in Tokyo. And it still suffers from all of the non-web compatibility in other Japanese cities.
If you are going to travel the world with your smartphone as a reference tool you still need to occasionally use Google Maps. If you live in your mom's basement in Boondocks County USA, sure, you can probably survive just sticking with Apple Maps.
And that doesn't change that Apple Maps data is fundamentally poorer in quality than Google Maps in a widespread area. Remember that Google's business is selling your data to advertisers (mostly through Google AdWords). Companies have more incentive to be on Google Maps because of Google Search.
Apple is going to have to try a LOT harder to make Apple Maps as good as Google Maps. They are years away from that still.