Like people are going to want to say "barely legal lesbians" out loud.

...while talking to Congress and trying to argue that Google does not dominate the market....

Google speak works for me. I don't need GlaDOS in my pocket.

WTF Indeed: Like people are going to want to say "barely legal lesbians" out loud.

Probably more likely than "Where can I find a Rubber Fist"

I think it is ridiculous that Google is getting hauled before a senate anti-trust committee in the first place. Dominance doesn't equal monopoly...

entropic_existence: I think it is ridiculous that Google is getting hauled before a senate anti-trust committee in the first place. Dominance doesn't equal monopoly...

Google execs like Democrats. Republicans hate Democrats. Republicans control Congress. Congress hates Google. Congress investigates Google. Google stops being as generous with Democrats has it was. Success.

Whatever. It's not available on my iPad, but Google's voice recognition is a main function on my Android phone. I use it a lot, and it works quite well. Maybe I can't be as informal with it as with Siri, but it does a pretty good job of figuring out what I'm saying and matching it to a result I desire.

Frankly, I think it's cool as hell that I can open Navigate and say the name of a destination, and it will map the GPS route for me in about two seconds. My dedicated in-car GPS isn't even that smart (granted, it's a few years old).

The voice recognition also works really well for dictating messages or emails, as long as I actually tell it where to place punctuation ("Go to hell period I don't owe you anything exclamation point")

And the best part? You can prepay for an Android phone plan. Apple still hasn't realized that they're neglecting a lot of potential customers by only attaching themselves to contract carriers. Even if I managed to get an iPhone to work with AT&T GoPhone, it's still way more expensive than the $35 a month I pay for unlimited data and texting along with 300 talk minutes.

So even if Siri is the best thing since sliced Beatles, I can't see owning a Siri-capable device in the near future; Not unless they add it to the iPad 2's bag of tricks.

Nihilist's Guide to Reticent Entropy: It's not available on my iPad

Rumor is it will be in January.

Schmidt is just tossing anything up there to convince Congress that its not a monopoly (which it is not)

Siri doesnt even have its own search algorithm, its just software that hits up all the other search engines for info. Like dogpile.com if it was polished by Jobs

Flint Ironstag: ...while talking to Congress and trying to argue that Google does not dominate the market....

Exactly. When Google search gives me everything from movie times to weather to bus stop locations and bus times, etc right on the search page, I can't see switching to another search engine. Although Bing is good, it's just not better than Google.

He then went on to say Excite.com is also a serious competitor.

Step 1) Develop awesome tech that everyone uses
Step 2) Outdo your competitors at every turn
Step 3) Profit
Step 4) Get investigated by Congress.

It's a wonder we have innovators at all with this checklist sitting around.

Schmidt needs to go away. He ruined Novell and tried to ruin Google. Hopefully by reducing services, Larry can refocus Google's efforts to build a better company.

HAS IT WAS?

don't let him fool you
google wrote the backbone

Siri has the potential to be a "Google killer" explicitly because it doesn't do what Google does. Siri doesn't "do search", search is just one of the features that it offers. It even relies on Google to achieve that- but it's not going to drive ad revenue the same way that Google's home-page does (hence the "killer" part of it: Google's primary service is ad delivery on behalf of its customers, search is just one way it keeps its ads valuable).

Siri's big bit of success is that it commoditized features that existed in the wild. That's exactly what Apple always does. That's why Apple is successful- they take features and turn them into easily sold products.

My house maid is a Google killer. She cleans my house way better than Google does. Does it matter that they both do entirely different things? No. Google killer.

It seems unlikely that Siri could kill Google, since the whole point of Siri was to make searching with your phone more convenient. At a desk or laptop, I should that Google is still more convenient. Is Siri even functional on a computer? That is, does it exist on Apple computers? I only ever see it referenced with respect to the iphone. And this says nothing that, as others have pointed out, it relies on Google or other search providers to do the actual searching anyway.

There's also the fact that it's an Apple service, so any linux or windows machine will just straight up never use it. Also, I don't know about the rest of you, but whether I'm at a public wifi location, such a cafe, or in the privacy of my home, I'm not likely to start talking to my computer to get it to search for something.

Though I don't use apple products and am fond of google, I have no problem with this. If one company dominates because the product is better, that's fine. It's when a company dominates because they have the financial power to buy out their competitors, mistreat people (customers or employees) or play other financial games, that's when I have a problem.

Apple did the research into a good semantic engine coupled with voice recognition. Good for them, they deserve to get their additional market share.

... Does anyone else not get that he might have said that because he was sitting before the senate antitrust subcommittee in congress? You know, somewhere that you would like to make yourself sound weaker? Just a thought...

skinink: Flint Ironstag: ...while talking to Congress and trying to argue that Google does not dominate the market....

Exactly. When Google search gives me everything from movie times to weather to bus stop locations and bus times, etc right on the search page, I can't see switching to another search engine. Although Bing is good, it's just not better than Google.

I love Bing maps and the satellite view they have, often the view from four angles, N, S, E + W, rather than just from above. The navigation is clunky as you move around but the actual imagery can be better than Google. But the Google Streetview is great as well..

Jurodan: ... Does anyone else not get that he might have said that because he was sitting before the senate antitrust subcommittee in congress? You know, somewhere that you would like to make yourself sound weaker? Just a thought...

It was mentioned in the article, and has been mentioned or hinted at more than once in this short thread already so... yes.

Wont kill google for me...I dont own an iphone, or any iproduct, and plan to avoid them...if simply just for the hipster-douchebaggy vibe they give. Ill take an EVO.

Sultan Of Herf: Wont kill google for me...I dont own an iphone, or any iproduct, and plan to avoid them...if simply just for the hipster-douchebaggy vibe they give. Ill take an EVO.

This. I like having the option of replacing a 0% charged battery with a 100% charged one; I like having a removable micro-flash card; I like using a common micro usb cable; I like not being told how I have to hold my phone. Give me my Droid X2 any day.

Meh. Who gives a Schmidt?

Aquadyne: Schmidt is just tossing anything up there to convince Congress that its not a monopoly (which it is not)

Siri doesnt even have its own search algorithm, its just software that hits up all the other search engines for info. Like dogpile.com if it was polished by Jobs

Siri is a natural language interpreter with some neat tricks that let it launch iPhone apps to boot, it's not a search algorithm or even really an AI; much of what it does is search Google or Wolfram Alpha to give answers.

The main thing it easily serves to replace in search is "easily" answered questions with a single answer, like "what's the capital of Ohio". Google's been working on making Google Search find info like that easier too though. Try searching "define:Word" for example to get a dictionary definition without having to click through to other pages.

aspAddict: Step 1) Someone else Develops awesome tech that everyone few uses
Step 2) Pretend you created it
Step 23) Outdo your competitors at every turnBlack turtlenecks
Step 34) Profit
Step 45) Get investigated by Congress.patent troll

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Sultan Of Herf: Wont kill google for me...I dont own an iphone, or any iproduct, and plan to avoid them...if simply just for the hipster-douchebaggy vibe they give. Ill take an EVO.

This. I like having the option of replacing a 0% charged battery with a 100% charged one; I like having a removable micro-flash card; I like using a common micro usb cable; I like not being told how I have to hold my phone. Give me my Droid X2 any day.

what till the usual lot come in here and tell you why , in their expert opinions, people don't really need replaceable batteries or even need to use USB.

Also, dick move on Subby using "quotes" to imply specific wording that was never used in the article. "significant competition" and "X killer" aren't really the same. Hell if anything when someone calls something a "Google Killer" using those words you can usually bet it's a short sighted hunk of junk that will never stand up against the product it's claimed to kill.

Niveras: It seems unlikely that Siri could kill Google, since the whole point of Siri was to make searching with your phone more convenient. At a desk or laptop, I should that Google is still more convenient. Is Siri even functional on a computer? That is, does it exist on Apple computers? I only ever see it referenced with respect to the iphone. And this says nothing that, as others have pointed out, it relies on Google or other search providers to do the actual searching anyway.

There's also the fact that it's an Apple service, so any linux or windows machine will just straight up never use it. Also, I don't know about the rest of you, but whether I'm at a public wifi location, such a cafe, or in the privacy of my home, I'm not likely to start talking to my computer to get it to search for something.

Expecting this much logic to run through the head of an Apple fanboi/girl is asking quite a lot.

Guidette Frankentits: aspAddict: Step 1) Someone else Develops awesome tech that everyone few uses
Step 2) Pretend you created it
Step 23) Outdo your competitors at every turnBlack turtlenecks
Step 34) Profit
Step 45) Get investigated by Congress.patent troll

Lol, this.

Nihilist's Guide to Reticent Entropy: Apple still hasn't realized that they're neglecting a lot of potential customers by only attaching themselves to contract carriers.

Apple hears ya; Apple don't care.

iPhone 4S is a kind of underwhelming incremental update to last year's model, and three weeks after launch it's still next to impossible to find one at retail (or even make a reservation to buy one at retail the next day).

Trying to expand their market further doesn't make sense if they're not able to meet the demand of their existing market.

lepton68: Interestingly enough if you ask Siri "Where can I find a Rubber Fist" it offers to a google search for it.

So, Siri and future "in" apps might become the primary front end for Google as a search service? With Google's page left for power users?

Hasn't that happened before in the old days of crawlers?

/Memory's getting too old.

Yeah, maybe when it can recognise an accent that doesn't originate from 10 square blocks of apple HQ. Problems already reported in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa... It's interesting technology, but let's not get ahead of ourselves people.

Well no shiat he told the antitrust committee that siri was legitimate competition. If siri wasn't around he'd have said that about bing, or yahoo or excite or ask jeeves.

YouWinAgainGravity: Eric Schmidt is nothing but an Apple fanboy!

It's better than him having to admit Bing is competition.

YouWinAgainGravity: Marine1: It's better than him having to admit Bing is competition.

I don't think Google has anything to worry about, at least immediately. Bing is definitely a competitor, and maybe Siri could eventually be, but right now 'Google' is so synonymous with search that it's not like hordes of people are suddenly going to switch over.

Doesn't Siri get its results from Google though?

Marine1: Doesn't Siri get its results from Google though?

Only when it does a Google search. It searches your phone, it searches various search engines, it uses Wolfram-Alpha, and Wikipedia and all sorts of other things.

t3knomanser: Marine1: Doesn't Siri get its results from Google though?

Only when it does a Google search. It searches your phone, it searches various search engines, it uses Wolfram-Alpha, and Wikipedia and all sorts of other things.

Ah.

I still don't get how it's a Google killer, though. It's almost a voice-driven search aggregator, but ultimately, the traffic probably gets routed through many of the same places.

Marine1: YouWinAgainGravity: Eric Schmidt is nothing but an Apple fanboy!

It's better than him having to admit Bing is competition.

I like Bing. Except if I really wanted to use it, I'd have to struggle against my subconscious will to use Google for search. At this point, Google search is a part of my brain and I can't stop it.

(though other Google services I don't give a crap about, even Gmail I don't care much about).

Marine1: YouWinAgainGravity: Eric Schmidt is nothing but an Apple fanboy!

It's better than him having to admit Bing is competition.

I don't think Steve Jobs ever admitted the Zune was competition either.

aspAddict: Step 1) Develop awesome tech that everyone uses
Step 2) Outdo your competitors at every turn
Step 3) Profit
Step 4) Get investigated by Congress.

It's a wonder we have innovators at all with this checklist sitting around.

Yes, it almost makes the billions of dollars that they've made seem worthless.

Oh, wait, no it doesn't, what an idiotic thing to say.

MrEricSir: Marine1: YouWinAgainGravity: Eric Schmidt is nothing but an Apple fanboy!

It's better than him having to admit Bing is competition.

I don't think Steve Jobs ever admitted the Zune was competition either.

It wasn't. Then again, the Zune was never marketed like Bing was, and choice of search engine in 2011 is a little less... permanent... than choice of MP3 player in 2005.

/still has songs on iTunes he can't listen to...

Um, he's testifying as to why Google isn't a monopoly, of course he's going to grasp at every imaginable straw and claim that it's valid competition. I'm sure he, Larry, and Sergey had a good chuckle about that one at the end of the day.

Rent is too damn high: I like Bing. Except if I really wanted to use it, I'd have to struggle against my subconscious will to use Google for search. At this point, Google search is a part of my brain and I can't stop it.

(though other Google services I don't give a crap about, even Gmail I don't care much about).

I switched the default search in Chrome to Bing a few weeks ago. The results that they come up with are pretty similar, and I kind of just figured that Google has enough of my info, and I may as well give MS a boost, as I'm a fan of much of what they do. I switched it back after a few hours, the look and feel was just too jarringly different for me. Kind of like if you wear one brand of T-shirts for a decade and decide to switch to another one that is virtually identical-- there's something to be said for being familiar with something.

Now, the changes to Google Reader and Gmail in the past week worry me. They've completely changed everything while at the same time adding zero features. The Ribbon UI at least introduced a whole shiatload of new features, and made it easier to find them. They didn't just change the way everything looked and add a bunch of dumb washed out icons so it would "look like the rest of their stuff."