- Apple and Amazon were among the first to venture into voice assistant technology. However, their advancements have taken different paths.
- Andy Jassy stated during Thursday’s earnings call that Amazon’s Alexa+ currently has 100,000 users.
- Tim Cook informed investors that the update for Apple’s Siri will be pushed back and is now expected sometime later this year.
It was a story about two voice-activated helpers.
Amazon and Apple demonstrated during the event on Thursday
earnings calls
Just how distant they stand from each other in the competition to develop a more intelligent AI assistant.
Apple
CEO Tim Cook discussed the postponement of the upcoming significant update for Siri during his address. This enhancement was initially unveiled almost a year back under the umbrella of Apple Intelligence.
“We need more time to complete our work on these features so they meet our high-quality bar,” Cook told
analysts and investors
, adding, “It’s simply taking a little more time than expected.”
Cooke did not provide a precise schedule for unveiling its more personalized, context-aware iteration of Siri; however, Apple mentioned in March that they anticipated its release within the “upcoming year.”
As Cook addressed queries regarding postponements,
Amazon
CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the progress during his presentation. Since its release in February, Alexa+, Amazon’s enhanced voice assistant driven by generative artificial intelligence, has attracted more than 100,000 paid subscribers, as mentioned in Thursday’s financial briefing.
People are quite fond of Alexa+ so far,” Jassy stated. “In the upcoming months, we intend to introduce much more features.
Alexa+
Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior VP of devices and services, mentioned during the February launch event that these new capabilities include AI-driven functions such as suggesting dinner recipes, messaging loved ones, and distributing party invites.
Both firms were among the pioneers in the voice assistant sector. Apple, having launched Siri back in 2011, has been striving to keep pace since then.
race where it began with an advantage
.
Alexa+ has also faced some holdups. It’s missing some key features demoed at launch, including third-party app integration, AI-generated bedtime stories, and gift idea suggestions.
In March, Apple took the rare step of delaying the rollout of its upgraded Siri, which is set to be powered by large language models. It was first announced at its June 2024 WWDC event.
The upcoming Siri enhancements — such as screen presence, individualized context understanding, and more extensive application integration — were initially anticipated for iOS 18.4, launched on March 31. However, according to industry watchers, these upgrades might now be included in iOS 19, potentially debuting later this year during autumn.
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