Apple Announces New Service: Siri - Let's Talk, iPhone

Apple has just announced an incredibly intelligent voice recognition service called "Siri" at its iPhone event in Cupertino, CA. In short, this service looks amazing. All you have to do (once the feature is enabled) is ask a question, and Siri will respond. For example, you can ask "Will it rain today?," and Siri will show a weather forecast. You can tell Siri, "Wake me up at six a.m.," and the feature will have an alarm configured for you. While Scott Forstall (who demoed the feature) did have to speak slowly, the feature appears to be great. It can even grab definitions from Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha - just speak "define," followed by a word, and Siri ("your personal assistant") will do the job for you. The service is integrated within Apple's built-in apps, and it's even possible to dictate SMS messages and emails using Siri! According to Phil Schiller:

It’ll be built-in with support for English, French, and German. It will be beta at the start; by beta we mean we’ll add more languages and services over time.

The downside for current iOS device owners is that Siri will be a feature of the iPhone 4S only. Clearly, this gives us another reason to purchase the new handset, which doesn't feature a redesign (though it does boast a nifty camera). Below, we've included some images of the feature in action (via This is my next). Take a look at them, and be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments. [gallery columns="5"]