Report: Siri Will Be Making Move To The New iPad With iOS 6

Siri, are you ready? According to 9to5Mac, the personal assistant that debuted with the iPhone 4S will be moving over to the new iPad with the introduction of iOS 6. While some believed that Siri would never appear on the iPad because of microphone issues, the site’s source said that commands are understood with the same or similar accuracy as with the iPhone 4S. And the voice dictation feature introduced with the tablet seems to be working pretty consistently. But Siri for the iPad will look different, like the pictured mockup from 9to5Mac.

Unlike on the iPhone 4S, Siri for iPad is not a full screen experience. This makes sense given the device’s larger, 9.7-inch display. Siri on the iPad is activated by a quick hold of the home button, just like on the iPhone 4S. The interface slides up from below the display with a clever animation. Siri is built into the iPad as a small window on top of whatever interface the user is currently interacting with. This Siri window with rounded corners sits at the bottom center of the display, as you can see in our mockup above. The Siri iPad interface takes very little space over the iPad interface currently in use, and is designed with the same linen texture as on the iPhone 4S. Siri for iPad also works from the lock screen.

Even though Apple has apparently been testing Siri for both the new iPad and iPad 2, the site says that the feature will likely be for only new iPad users. Launching it for only the latest-generation tablet would allow Siri to scale up at a reasonable pace and not overload its servers. While iOS 6 is expected to be introduced during next Monday’s keynote at WWDC in San Francisco, the site didn’t know whether the feature would be announced then or saved for a later date (like the next-generation iPhone event). Since its introduction last fall, Siri has sparked a large dose of controversy with iOS device users. While the service works nicely for some, Siri does often display some “beta” behavior by not understanding queries at all or giving laughable answers even after understanding the question. In early May, my colleague Bryan M. Wolfe made an interesting assessment of what is wrong with Siri and what Apple can do to improve the service. I strongly agree with his reasoning that there is a lot of room for improvement. But I don’t know if expanding Siri to the millions of new iPad users will help make the experience better. Last week, during an interview at the D10 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was working hard to improve Siri.

“Customers love it. But, there’s more that it can do, and… we have a lot of people working on this. I think you’ll be really pleased with what you see in the coming months on this. We’ve got some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this.”

Source: 9to5Mac

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