14 DAY TRIAL // The majority of devices out there come with a digital assistant and more companies seem to be interested in such technologies for their own smartphones and PCs.
But a report from Gartner shows that despite the aggressive push for personal assistants, they’re not making a big difference for the time being, as new technologies fail to drive demand for PCs and smartphones.
And while digital assistants are more widely adopted on smartphones, not the same thing can be said on PCs, the market where both Microsoft and Apple are pushing hard for their own assistants Cortana and Siri, respectively.
New tech not yet boosting demand
Gartner says adoption of personal assistant will increase at some point in the future, only that it won’t be happening in the short term, no matter how hard Microsoft and Apple are pushing for these technologies in their operating systems.
“Today, the user experience with new technologies such as AI and VPAs is too often below the standard found in the rest of the device, and the cost to raise the standard quickly is prohibitive, relative to the benefits,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.
“In the near term, the device market will continue to be driven by incremental advances in traditional technology, but, looking three or four years ahead, the device market will begin to see very significant shifts in both usage patterns and form factors, especially as 5G wireless technology is introduced.”
Sales of the traditional PC is expected to continue dropping in the next years, with shipments to total 203 million units this year and 195 million in 2018. The whole PC market, however, will recover from 262 million units this year to 267 million units in 2018, while mobile phones would also grow from 1.90 billion devices in 2017 to 1.93 billion devices next year.
Microsoft itself is already working on tweaks for Cortana in Windows 10, with the personal assistant to be moved to a more subtle place in the system tray in the upcoming Falls Creators Update.