Watching the keynote at our office on a big screen and everyone collectively sighing when they announced the name felt indicative haha.
I think it just feels uncreative? Siri as a brand has some value, but if you want it to feel like a watershed moment where old Siri is "behind us" finally, just give it a new name.
I don't think Apple has the option to rebrand Siri at this stage, assuming people actually call Siri by name. However, turning AI into 'Apple Intelligence' doesn't feel creative either.
This doesn't follow for me. They can trivially allow it to still respond to the old wakeword. They should absolutely change the name in the event they can finally make it useful, because "Siri" is (in my mind and many others') a synonym for "hapless idiot." "Thanks, Siri" has been uttered hundreds of time in my house and my car, and 100% of the time it's sarcastic.
Or just keep calling it Siri, and announce "hey look, Siri does some cool new things."
AI is a technology, not a product. Consumers don't care about technologies, they care about what the product does versus what they currently have.
I think Jobs was an asshole, but one good thing I can say about him is that he understood the difference between technology and products. Imagine if they had called it the "iPod HDD."
The ergonomics of “the new X” sort of fall apart when you’re releasing it in stages. (Not in EU/only in English) It spawns a lot of conversations like “do you have the new Siri? Uh… I think so? It’s still crap though.” You cart around this bad brand image because you pitch this big watershed moment and 2/3rds of people are still using the “wrong” Siri.
Siri and Voice Control were both usable during the same time and it feels like it could work here too.
Totally agree that AI is just an implementation detail though. IMO that new product name should NOT have “AI” in it at all.
It's going to be weird though when my phone has Siri AI and my Homepod has Siri... "please ask on your iPhone" edition. I also don't quite get the distinction of Siri as an app versus the Siri I yell at to make my TV do something.
Amazing how someone again finds a meaningless thing Apple does better than the rest then blows it out of proportions. Makes you wonder if they are on Apple's PR team.
It looks bad from every perspective. I've never seen two apple's in one URL for product category before. apple.com/apple-intelligence
To prove my point, I opened a random date on the Apple website matching today's date to compare. 16 years ago, June 8 (1) Apple released the iPhone 4. There's still no room for jokes about that release, and from this perspective, calling their AI 'Apple Intelligence' feels weak compared to what they used to deliver.
I agree that some years ago Apple was the strongest in marketing, their brand team had been setting the bar for tech, but I simply can't say that anymore.
For pedantry's sake, they were saying "AI = Apple Intelligence" last year as well, so it's not like they just pulled it out of their butts now that popular opinion has turned against AI.
I think it just feels uncreative? Siri as a brand has some value, but if you want it to feel like a watershed moment where old Siri is "behind us" finally, just give it a new name.