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According to the descriptions of recent jobs posting on its Web site, Apple is looking for iOS engineers to join its Siri development team to help implement user interface (UI) design for the voice-activated assistant included on every iPhone 4S.
The primary objective of the first position would be to help develop the look and feel of the conversational UI elements while using Siri. This includes a variety of tasks, as the post explains, “we [Apple] take every application that Siri interacts with, distill it down to fundamentals, and implement that application’s UI in a theme fitting with Siri.”
Sounds easy enough. The post goes on to call Siri a “miniature OS within the OS.” Qualifications are as expected, a solid background in Objective-C and iOS programming and software development.
A second post states Apple’s need for a senior iOS software engineer, performing similar functions as the first opening, but with more experience.
With Siri continually making headlines for finding (or not finding) various query requests and constantly being brushed off by tech company head honchos like Google’s Andy Rubin, Apple’s need for expanding its Siri team is quite understandable. The job posts also give weight to recent rumors that Apple will be adding hardware access to Siri’s capabilities.
Some reports have insisted that Siri is the largest software team at Apple and it appears Apple is looking to make it even bigger. Perhaps the most interesting piece in all of this is the tiny quote referring to Siri as a mini OS. (I have been on the side of Siri being the biggest game-changer in Apple’s repertoire.)
Successfully implementing Siri as a voice-controlled OS would make Apple’s mobile strategy expand exponentially.
To put that another way, if you only need voice to control your phone, your screen does not have to be as big. Or, why include a screen at all? That would be the iPhone shuffle.
Of course, Apple has another device profile that actually has a screen, runs a version of iOS, and would make a killer phone–the iPod Nano. All you have to do is put the iPhone Nano on a watch-like case and you’ve got a contraption straight from “Get Smart.”
Is Siri the biggest product in Apple’s future? Let me know your opinion in the comments!
