Enhanced Siri for Mac might be in the works
Back in June we talked about how Apple is working on the ultimate productivity ecosystem, where users can work seamlessly between iOS and MacOS.
Business users and home users might soon add Siri desktop integration to the mix, according to an Apple patent filed under “Intelligent digital assistance in a desktop environment”, which details how Siri is set to interact with users in a desktop environment.
The new “Siri for Mac” is likely to differ from its iOS version. Voice commands and dictation will be optimized and tailored around a desktop environment. Users will be able to invoke Siri on Macs much like they do on iOS, with activation phrases like “Hey Siri”, as well as with mouse/touch gestures.
Voice commands and pointer activity will work in concert, according to the patent, allowing users to select a batch of icons or folders, and invoke voice commands when dragging the batch onto the Siri icon, such as “sort by location”, or “sort by date”.
The section of the patent titled: “Using Digital Assistant as a Third Hand”, is a most interesting one, that is likely to enhance multitasking on Mac. Users working on a text document, for instance, will be able to use voice commands to invoke a web page, or an image folder to display on the side of the main application. This concept is likely to minimize broken focus on primary applications.
Plans may also include using voice commands to send speech-to-text emails, re-sizing and manipulating multiple images, and, theoretically accomplishing any other operation available to the user.
It is unclear whether the feature will be part of Yosemite anytime soon, but a concept of a virtual assistant has been floating around since Siri’s first inception in iOS.
So far, attempts at introducing a virtual assistant have been relegated to third party software, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a handful of other companies, yet, a native solution to enable desktop users to use speech commands has been a very hard sell.
Although users are warming up to issue voice commands to smartphones and tablets, the desktop environment is still a place where keyboard and mouse dominate and provide a more immediate response time than voice commands, which might be the reason why Apple is taking its time implementing a “Siri for Mac”.
By the same token, the existence of such patent could suggest Apple’s willingness to seriously test Siri on the desktop, which means Apple could be successful in enhancing Siri, to a level that Mac users actually find useful.