A better Siri is critical to the iPhone’s long-term competitiveness

When Apple bought Siri in 2010 it ushered in the era of the virtual assistant. It was a truly differentiated feature vs. Android phones. Over time, however, the lead that Apple had has been lost. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others introduced virtual assistants that now equal or exceed Siri’s capabilities. And Amazon Echo has a significant head start in the home. Voice search and virtual assistants have become mainstream in the past two years. No longer are they novelty features of the user experience; they have become core to it. Rising usage has been followed by rising expectations. Thus a less competitive assistant, over time, becomes a potential liability for Apple’s main revenue source.