Ohh wow... The Apple fanboys really come out of the woodwork giving me thumbs-down... ROFL!!! Glad I could ruffle some feathers... But if you really think it has no merit to the topic, heh... You may not like what I say, but it is on topic... Anyhow, back to the discussion...
[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]1 - Siri removes the need to look at the screen whilst driving, much like hands-free sets, which have been shown to massively increase safety. People will try to text when they're driving regardless, this gives them a better way to do that. Just like you can talk to people in your car whilst driving. Do you want to ban that too?[/citation]
HUGE difference between someone in the car who can also see what's going on and someone elsewhere with no clue. People as a whole just can't drive, let alone drive and do something else at the same time... The person who killed mine using a headset... Did them a whole lot of good didn't it... The simple, unarguable truth is, when people talk, there focus is elsewhere... There's been many studies that even hands-free, driving on the phone is no safer then driving intoxicated...
So now they'll add hands-free texting (again, still nothing 'new' though), which is just as complicated. You have to think of the person, what you're going to say, verify it did it right, etc. All of this is less attention you're paying to the ROAD... Maybe, when your kid has a closed-casket funeral due to someone driving on the phone, only then you'll actually understand the problem...
The problem is, people don't "also talk on the phone", they "also drive the car". And this isn't a woman or man thing or teenager thing... Far too many people think their conversation is more important then paying attention to the road. They might not think so out loud but they get so caught up in their conversations they stop paying full attention to the road... Ever missed your turn cause you were talking? Or even just listening to the radio? You had a lapse of concentration. That little bit is all it takes to kill someone... People need to focus on driving... Period...
As for 'they will do it anyhow'... Yea, and they should get arrested... Make alcohol illegal (they did) and they will do it anyhow... Drugs are illegal, look at all of that out there... It's all about what you should be penalized for... Not what you will or won't do... DUI penalties aren't nearly high enough as it is... But phone related accidents should be right there with em. Making it illegal alone won't do much... But the penalties will be much more severe instead of just 'opps, sorry your kid is a pretzel... Insurance will take care of the car (if they even have any)... But I was on the phone...'... That right there is just the example of what does happen all the time... Talking on the phone isn't a crime while driving (here, it is in other countries).
Yes, hands-free does help... But really not that much... People still die... And it's the lack of attention that is the problem. And there should be some serious penalty for it... Do whatever you want, but you hurt someone, you're going to pay the price... And more then just a slap on the wrist and increased insurance premiums...
[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]2 - Siri may have been worth a lot more had they not sold to Apple, but surely that means Apple got excellent value for money? An excellent strategic decision, too, given that now it can't be used on Android.[/citation]
How in the heck is that a good strategic decision?!? Buy a nice product and limit it to only your stuff, which is a whopping 28% of the marketshare... Where there are other competing products available to the other 72% as well as your 28%... So spend WAY TOO MUCH money on the company initially (they'll never make that investment back, they even said so in the reviews just after the purchase...) and then lose more money by locking it down to only your tiny portion of the market... Ya... great business decision...
[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]3 - Vlingo is not the equivalent of Siri. Pretty much unanimous over the internet that Siri is far more advanced.[/citation]
No, it is more advanced but not 'far more advanced'... It just doesn't use as few triggering words... Instead it uses an external database (which means you have to have an active data connection... A minus...) for the real processing power systems to try to make sence of your gibberish. And again, that is only right now... Today... The competition isn't just going to watch it roll on by, that's not how it works... (not with any successful companies anyhow)... They will buckle-down and develop matching or besting features of their own... And the competition, it available on all platforms... That's the biggest plus there is. So I can put it in my Android, my iPod, my berry and win devices, etc... Have the same tool everywhere. Not something close, but slightly different where you have to do something differently here or there...
[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]As for claims that the phone will 'catch up' in the future, surely that's proof that Apple is leading the way on this one.. you can't catch someone up if you're already level with them.[/citation]
Here, you flat out lost me entirely... I never said anything about a 'phone' catching up... I was referring to the competition... Like Vlingo and other options out there... Right now SIRI is the most feature-packed of the bunch... Only right now, today... Thinking SIRI is always going to be the best is just... well, totally ignorant... It would be like saying AMD CPUs are the best when you were only looking at the days of the new 64 lineup way back when... At the time, yup. They were... Didn't last long but... The competition came back...
But that is what we WANT in the market... COMPETITION... Without it you have monopolies which are the worst of everything ever for the consumers... Will SIRI always be the best... I don't have a crystal ball... But to think so outright is just... well the nicest word I can think of is ignorant... Vlingo could surpass it, or something else entirely could come to market and blow them both out of the water... Could be next week, next month, next year... Tomorrow... All I can say is, and anyone with half a brain knows this very well, companies will try... Especially those focused in that area... And then Apple will probably just start he barrage of frivolous litigation...
Facebook
Twitter