14 DAY TRIAL // Apple may usher in a few surprises at WWDC this year, including a sleek new interface for iOS 7 and maybe, just maybe, Siri for Mac OS X.
OS X 10.9 is said to be on schedule for unveiling at WWDC 2013 and, while Apple has reportedly shifted some Mac developers over to the iOS team, there’s no indication they won’t have a build ready for the event.
As far as developers are concerned, many of them are convinced the next OS X will incorporate Siri, the digital voice-powered assistant introduced by Apple in 2011.
Karl Johnson over at T-GAAP says, “With Siri, Apple basically created a smart operating system.”
“For Apple, this means Siri is likely to be headed towards Macs and OS X […] Apple will be announcing their next Mac OS (10.9) in June at WWDC,” Johnson adds, appearing to know something we don’t.
The blogger then notes, “Developers are expecting Siri to be one of the main new features. Can Apple just drop in Siri as is, or do they need to improve it for the Mac?”
In other words, the big question is not if Siri is coming to the Mac, but when.
And there’s a pretty good chance OS X 10.9 – whatever it's called – will bring the assistant to the desktop world.
But Apple has some hurdles to overcome. Like Apple Maps, Siri continues to be a fledging service that learns from its own mistakes, so to speak.
Competing products out there, like Evi and Google Now, aren’t necessarily much better. For all its flaws, Siri still has the upper hand, as it was the first major product of its kind to hit the mainstream on (literally) the handiest of platforms.
Ask anyone about Siri and they’ll instantly tell you what it is and how it works. It's as intuitive as it is popular.
It has had (and still has) a great deal of momentum, and Apple will not waste the opportunity to use it as a lever to ascend OS X to new heights.