"Siri" is Norwegian for "beautiful woman who leads you to victory"

Mar 28, 2012 18:41 GMT  ·  By

Dag Kittlaus, one of the co-founders of Siri, has revealed to the press that Steve Jobs was never too fond of the name of his application. After Apple purchased the company’s assets, Jobs failed to come up with a better name, so it remained in place, according to Kittlaus.

"Siri" is Norwegian for "beautiful woman who leads you to victory," according to NetworkWorld, which attended a talk by Dag Kittlaus.

"I worked with a lady named Siri in Norway and wanted to name my daughter Siri and the domain was available," Kittlaus said. "And also consumer companies need to focus on the fact that the name is easy to spell, easy to say."

Apple bought Siri in April, 2010 for a reported $200 million. Siri had been available on the App Store, prior to its acquisition by Apple.

The late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs was not very fond of the name “Siri” at the time of the acquisition. As the company was preparing to launch the iPhone 4S with the Siri service embedded in it, Jobs failed to produce a better alternative, so Apple eventually stuck with it.

Kittlaus told attendees that he also got the chance to talk to Steve Jobs about the future. The iconic CEO reportedly invited him to his home in Palo Alto, California, where they talked by the fireplace for three full hours:

“… he talked about why Apple was going to win, and we talked about how Siri was doing. And he was very excited about the fact that.. you know, he was very interested in this area in general but, you know, they're patient, they don't jump on anything until they feel they can go after something new and he felt that we cracked it. So that was his attraction.”

“I ended up very lucky, timing wise,” Kittlaus added. “I got to work with him for a year before he got real sick. And he's pretty incredible. The stories are true. All of the stories.”

Siri is now an exclusive feature on the iPhone 4S. Many people who had downloaded the original app were disgruntled at the news that it would no longer work outside the boundaries of an A5 chip. The new iPad was rumored to support it but, as it turned out, it didn’t. The next Apple iPhone, however, will.