Apple working on version of Siri to help you purchase products online

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014


Future updates to Apple's Siri personal assistant could grant users the ability to purchase items from online stores using only their voice.



Apple's interest in expanding Siri to help with online shopping was revealed this week in a new patent application discovered by AppleInsider. The proposed invention, entitled "Intelligent Automated Assistant," is a detailed look not only at what Siri can already do, but what it might be able to do in the future.



In its current form on the iPhone 4S, Siri does not allow users to complete transactions with online stores. The voice-driven personal assistant software will respond with "Sorry, I can't purchase that."



But Apple's latest patent filing specifically highlights e-commerce as a key function of its "Intelligent Automated Assistant." The application notes that Siri could be used for "online purchases of items such as books, DVDs, music and the like."



With e-commerce functionality added to Siri, a user could ask their iPhone to purchase a new song, album, TV episode or movie through Apple's iTunes Store. Similarly, transactions through the iBookstore or even the App Store could theoretically be initiated.



But Apple's filing also mentions physical items like DVDs, suggesting that Siri could also integrate with online retailers. It's possible that such a system could be used to make a purchase through a retailer like Best Buy and allow users to pick up their purchase at a nearby store.



Last month, users gained the ability to check available inventory at Best Buy through Siri, thanks to new capability with the Wolfram Alpha engine Siri utilizes. But while customers can see if an item is in stock, Siri does not yet allow users to buy an item.





Mockup including Siri dialogue found in Apple patent application.







The patent application specifically names Amazon as a potential partner in such a system. The example has Siri telling a user: "I can help you find music, movies, books, electronics, toys, and more -- and buy it from Amazon. What are you looking for?"



The proposed invention, made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was first filed in January of 2011. Its long list of credited inventors includes original employees of Siri, the company Apple acquired, including Dag Kittlaus, the Siri co-founder who left Apple last year after the launch of the iPhone 4S.



The remaining credited inventors are Thomas Robert Gruber, Adam John Cheyer, Didier Rene Guzzoni, Christopher Dean Brigham, Richard Donald Giuli, Marcello Bastea-forte, and Harry Joseph Saddler.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    User: Siri, purchase furry coat.



    Siri: Purchasing Ferrari car, accessing bank info, transaction complete.
  • Reply 2 of 16
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloggerblog View Post


    User: Siri, purchase furry coat.



    Siri: Purchasing Ferrari car, accessing bank info, transaction complete.



    LOL



    Wait for the Android copy cat ...



    "Android, buy Solitaire game"



    "OK, all your funds have been transferred to the Russian bank account as directed by trojan horse installed last night"
  • Reply 3 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloggerblog View Post


    User: Siri, purchase furry coat.



    Siri: Purchasing Ferrari car, accessing bank info, transaction complete.



    Funny, except Siri would likely ask for confirmation. It also has pretty good voice recognition in the first place. Windows Phone 7's voice thing OTOH would probably do something stupid like this...In fact, it probably would only register the word "purchase"
  • Reply 4 of 16
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Where does everyone keep getting these "What if Siri said this?" images? Is there a site that generates them or are they using Photoshop to create them?
  • Reply 5 of 16
    Ability to buy the new cheap plastic movie souvenir 1 - Ability to read a new email while driving in limited network availability 0
  • Reply 6 of 16
    geekdadgeekdad Posts: 1,131member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloggerblog View Post


    User: Siri, purchase furry coat.



    Siri: Purchasing Ferrari car, accessing bank info, transaction complete.



    That too funny! But if you have enough $$$ in your account to buy a Ferrari online then you need to hire a live personal assistant to do that stuff for you! :-)
  • Reply 7 of 16
    geekdadgeekdad Posts: 1,131member
    What I really want Siri to do by the time it is out of beta...is

    When I am driving the ability to say "Siri find Starbucks" it will find serveral Then say "give me directions to the closest one" Then Siri would give me turn by turn voice navigation to the target. Or say "Siri read me the last email in my Hotmail account" then it would read the last email by date recieved. Anyway I know it is still in beta so hopefully Apple will enable more functionality for this awesome feature!
  • Reply 8 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Future updates to Apple's Siri personal assistant could grant users the ability to purchase items from online stores using only their voice.




    This is a great revenue opportunity for Apple. I expect that Siri will display products which are from Apple's partners first.



    Amazon has a lot to worry about.
  • Reply 9 of 16
    how about apple work on a version of Siri that works on the iPhone 4 I am still a year out from an upgrade Dam you verizon
  • Reply 10 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tmallon View Post


    how about apple work on a version of Siri that works on the iPhone 4







  • Reply 11 of 16
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    I hope there's some security features built-in that prevents unauthorized purchases using your Siri device. I'm sure people out there share password with loved ones and those said loved ones (children) would love to go on a shopping spree.



    I had my Kindle stolen and the thief could still make purchases from Amazon even though I changed my password online. Only a phone call to Amazon and the credit card company got the device disabled. Thankfully the Kindle Fire has password protection.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by geekdad View Post


    What I really want Siri to do by the time it is out of beta...is

    When I am driving the ability to say "Siri find Starbucks" it will find serveral Then say "give me directions to the closest one" Then Siri would give me turn by turn voice navigation to the target. Or say "Siri read me the last email in my Hotmail account" then it would read the last email by date recieved. Anyway I know it is still in beta so hopefully Apple will enable more functionality for this awesome feature!



    While Siri can't read emails yet, I have been able to have an open email and tell Siri to forward said email to a contact, and then dictate what I want to say.



    I'd also like a universal function where you can say "Read to me what I'm looking at" and Siri reads any text.
  • Reply 13 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    While Siri can't read emails yet, I have been able to have an open email and tell Siri to forward said email to a contact, and then dictate what I want to say.



    I'd also like a universal function where you can say "Read to me what I'm looking at" and Siri reads any text.



    I know! This shouldn't be very hard at all, given that Apple already has system-wide TTS in Universal Access.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTel View Post


    I hope there's some security features built-in that prevents unauthorized purchases using your Siri device.



    VoicePass.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    Funny, except Siri would likely ask for confirmation. It also has pretty good voice recognition in the first place. Windows Phone 7's voice thing OTOH would probably do something stupid like this...In fact, it probably would only register the word "purchase"



    No, WP7 would direct you to a brothel where you could find a furry cunt.
  • Reply 16 of 16


    FYI... For fans of both email AND Siri... The free iPhone app called "Talkler" DOES read emails aloud, the way that Siri won't. It even understands spoken commands for hands-free. It's billed as 'email for your ears.' Here's the page: www.Talkler.com. Hope that helps!?

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