Android Chief: Siri, Schmiri. Phone Is Not an Assistant

Andy Rubin not interested in Siri-like functionality
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2011 7:25 AM CDT
Android Chief: Siri, Schmiri. Phone Is Not an Assistant
Google's Andy Rubin gestures as he talks about Android at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Android users, don’t hold out hope for your phone to get a Siri-like function anytime in the near future. “I don’t believe that your phone should be an assistant,” Android chief Andy Rubin tells All Things D. “Your phone is a tool for communicating.” The several million people who’ve purchased the iPhone 4S, which features Siri as a “voice-controlled assistant,” might disagree, points out writer Ina Fried.

Of course, Rubin continues, “to some degree it is natural for you to talk to your phone.” But when you do that, “you shouldn’t be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone.” At this point, he’s not interested in an assistant feature for Android devices, and he says it remains to be seen whether people will appreciate such features: “We’ll see how pervasive it gets.” (More Android stories.)

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