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Don’t mistake Siri for Glass – or Apple’s virtual assistant will start trash-talking Google’s tech headset.
In one of the more amusing clashes between big tech companies, Apple’s voice-activated assistant Siri, who comes featured on the newer generations of iPads and iPhones, will respond unfavourably if addressed with Google Glass’ activation phrase ‘Okay Glass’.
Siri’s witty replies have been previously noted, with fans of sci-fi classics such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and 2001: A Space Odyssey receiving satisfying easter-egg answers to requests such as ‘What is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?’ (‘42’) and ‘Siri, open the pod bay doors’ (‘I can’t do that, Dave.’)
Despite Siri’s past wit, the Glass-centric responses are possibly the first time Siri has addressed a competitor’s product with disdain.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has previously dismissed Google’s Glass as no threat to Apple, saying the headset wouldn’t be worn voluntarily by consumers. Siri, however, has remained quiet on the subject, perhaps because she/he/it only learnt the difference between ‘glass’ and ‘Glass’ in an update a few months ago.
Now having made up her/his/its mind, however, Siri apparently finds Glass unimpressive, responding to ‘Okay Glass’ with what appears to be five varyingly-negative replies, originally spotted by Twitter user @seanmbrage.
‘I think that Glass is half empty,’ is probably the most witty, while ‘Just so you know, I don’t do anything when you blink at me’ is more informative, with a tint of mockery. ‘I’m not Glass. And I’m just fine with that’ is questionably dismissive, while ‘Glass? I think you’ve got the wrong assistant’ suggests the user go out and use Glass instead, maybe being undeserving of Siri’s presence due to making such a silly mistake.
While the “feud” is obviously very tongue-in-cheek, it will be interested to see if and how Google replies. Maybe by replacing every Apple product the user looks at with a big red cross and the word ‘WRONG’.
