When Siri Becomes A Member of the Family

Siri is much more than just a useful feature for Apple’s iPhone 4S. Siri is also incredibly strategic for Apple. I have written quite a bit on the subject of how software platforms become sticky. The point I continually emphasize is that we who study the industry need to understand “ecosystems” more than products. What I mean by that is that consumers, when they buy technology products, are moving from a product buying mentality to an ecosystem buying mentality – they just don’t know it yet.

Products by themselves are not sticky and have very little consumer loyalty. In terms of products, brand or lowest price is what keeps consumers coming back. But as we transition from personal to personalized computing, consumers will stay loyal to ecosystems more than simply brand or product, even though those play into the ecosystem. Think of these products as screens which allow consumers to tap into a rich ecosystem driven by software and services.

As I evaluate products, platforms, and companies’ strategies, I am looking for things that invite consumers into an ecosystem and then encourage ecosystem loyalty. This is essentially the root of differentiation going forward.

If we look at the platform as the basis for an ecosystem, then right now the companies with ecosystems are Apple, Microsoft, Google (with Android) and RIM. Some ecosystems are more fleshed-out than others, but as a baseline those are the four — for now.

The key to any of these companies’ long-term success is to continue developing innovations that keep consumers loyal to their ecosystem. When this happens, consumers are less likely to switch from one platform to another. For example, consumers who have invested time, money, and energy in Apple’s ecosystem are less likely to jump to Android for their next phone due to the high cost and inconvenience of switching.

This is why I think Siri is so incredibly strategic for Apple. Siri in my opinion is the first step in moving computing from personal to personalized — something that happens when your personal electronics learn and understand things about you without you having to personalize it yourself.

When you use Siri, even though it is in beta and in a very early stage of its life-cycle, you observe how it learns and remembers certain key things about you. Inevitably over time as Siri learns more about you and hits her groove as a true personal assistant, this feature will keep you loyal to Apple’s ecosystem.

Credit: AP
Imagine if over the period of a year or two, Siri has developed into a true personal assistant adding value all the way through task automation, discovery of places and events based on personal preference, geo-location assistance and more. After all the time you have spent living with Siri, who is learning quite a bit about you in order to be valuable, would you really fire her and go buy a different smart phone just because it is cheaper?

I don’t know a single executive with a personal assistant (who they often consider as a member of their family) who would fire that assistant just because he or she can find another one who’s cheaper. Rather, when you find a good assistant you hold on to them and stay loyal.

In fact, ask any executive what they hate most about hiring a new assistant and they will tell you it is the initial training process.

The same will be true with Siri as the technology evolves and gets better and even more useful. The amount of hours put into training Siri to understand critical elements of your life, preferences, habits and more would require quite an undertaking and a headache to simply start over with another device, assuming another device has such a feature of course.

This is why Siri is strategic for Apple. Siri is another piece of the Apple ecosystem that will command consumer loyalty. This is why Apple competitors should be concerned. The more people Apple gets into their ecosystem, the less likely they will consider competitors’ products year in and year out.

Ecosystem loyalty will be the battleground of the future and companies who do not build a healthy ecosystem that drives consumer loyalty will be in for an uphill battle.

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Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin is a Principal Analyst and the head of primary research at Creative Strategies, Inc - An industry analysis, market intelligence and research firm located in Silicon Valley. His primary focus is consumer technology and market trend research and he is responsible for studying over 30 countries. Full Bio

16 thoughts on “When Siri Becomes A Member of the Family”

  1. Not owning a 4S, I don’t yet see the difficulty or rewards of training Siri. But I definitely see the “member of the family” angle. Thanks for the insight; maybe this is the best post from you I’ve seen.

    1. Thanks Walt, I really appreciate the comment. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s column, I am hoping it is as good if not better 🙂

  2. I agree with Ben.

    The way Siri can become an integral part of your life as your personal assistant will create incredible loyalty to Apple products.

    I foresee when Siri becomes a part of every Apple computing product – the iPhone, the Mac, the Apple TV, the iPod, etc. Siri will know you through your Apple ID. Siri will have an API that 3rd party apps can use so that Siri can also control them. Apple will buy or contract with many many more databases so Siri can find the answer you want. Siri cements incredible consumer loyalty to Apple.

    Siri is already more than 2 years ahead of the competition. There is no company that Google can buy to emulate Siri. And Siri is a moving target that will get better over time.

    Siri is the search engine AND personal assistant. There is little place for Google in this scenario.

    1. I agree. Siri is exactly how Woz described it when he was interviewed waiting outside an Apple Store to buy the new iPhone: Siri is in effect the interface for an answer engine, instead of a search engine.

  3. Interesting article, but not having an iPhone 4S (yet), I’d like to hear a few examples of how that personalization process works in practice to judge whether it’s really all that valuable. (I’ve read elsewhere about Siri asking who your wife is the first time you ask “her” to text your wife, for example, and then remembering your wife’s name the next time.)

    1. Right now it does things like remember where you live, where you work, key family members etc. That way when you say “text my wife” Siri knows who your wife is. Those are the basics of what it learns about you currently but I expect as this technology evolves, it to get even more personal.

      I wrote a column for Time.com a piece where I lay out more future scenarios about what may be possible with artificial intelligence.

      http://techland.time.com/2011/10/17/in-the-future-we-will-all-talk-to-computers/

  4. Am I the only one in the World who can’t stand her sickly silky voice?!? Having owned every version of iPhone, I for one end my customer loyalty to this phone until I have an option to speak with Mister Siri.

    1. I can see your quibble. However, what is to say that you will not be able to customize the voice to your liking? Could be male, english accent or whatever?

  5. Steve: Siri remembers various shortcuts so that you can say things like

    Remind me when I leave work to …
    Remind me when I get home to …
    Text my wife …

    Presumably this information will grow over time as the product gains sophistication.

    I use Siri and like it a lot. I do advise a bit of caution. Just because Siri has reached some level of proficiency doesn’t mean it can linearly improve over the next couple of years. AI can be extremely difficult and frustrating. Given that, I too am expecting it to improve in the near future.

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  7. For instance, someone who has experienced hardship may develop values centered around resilience and compassion, while positive experiences may reinforce values like gratitude or optimism.

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