Apple is allowing Siri to tease us about improvements and changes to be announced at the company’s annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). So far, Siri has revealed she will be getting a new voice, and she hinted at what may be a new HomePod. Perhaps most importantly, on one test, she told me she was getting smarter.
[Update: 9to5Mac is calling balderdash on this story, arguing that these are the same messages from last year. Chance Miller further noted that asking Siri specifically about WWDC 2018 only yields a data and place for the event. And that may be the way it is, that Apple just left this stuff lying around rather sloppily after last year’s WWDC. I don’t think it’s definitive, though that could be predicated in part for my desperate desire for Siri to get ever-better.]
Siri Is Getting a New Voice
Uncovered by The Apple Post [via Cult of Mac], Siri will readily tell you that she’s getting a new voice, saying: La la la, Siri is getting a brand new voice!” This one’s clear enough, though it remains to be seen if that new voice is still based on the voice work of Susan Bennett. My guess is that if Apple is calling it a “new” voice it will actually be a “new” voice.
About Siri’s New Home, All Meshy and Matte
Siri’s second tease is a bit more cryptic, at least to me. She says: “I’m gonna have a shiny new home! Well, not really shiny, more meshy and matte…”
This is clearly a HomePod reference, but Siri’s already in HomePod. So will Apple be announcing a new HomePod? That seems super doubtful—unless it’s a second model. I expect the current model to serve as Apple’s flagship HomePod for several years. But Apple sorely needs a smaller, less expensive HomePod to better serve the home automation market that is in such hot demand. Accordingly, that’s what I think this message means. Less update, more additional model.
Siri’s Going to Get Smarter!
After reading about the two messages above, I was busily trying to capture screenshots of those responses. The thing is, my HomePod kept answering, which was annoying until Siri said this:
“I don’t want to brag, but I’m getting a lot smarter. It must be all that late night studying I’ve been doing.”
That answer was in response to the same question I asked in my screenshots: “Hey Siri, tell me about WWDC.” I could not get my iPhone to produce that response, despite many attempts. Maybe it’s on iPhone, too, and I’d eventually get it if I just kept asking, but I heard it on HomePod. I’m hoping this means that Siri on HomePod is going to get a lot smarter, because that is absolutely what we want out of this platform.
And now I can’t wait for WWDC!
Keep hearing about this so called cheaper HomePod. What exactly would that be? A smaller one with crappy sound? The whole point of the speaker is the great sound. How would they even market a cheaper one. A Siri speaker. We already have one, an iPhone.
You may want to read 9to5Mac’s story about this. These are the same answers as last year. If you ask specifically about this year, she just lists the locale and time.
Getting smarter? Well she already has a smart mouth “Who me?”