Certainly Apple Must Be Siri’sly Concerned
Engineers working with the French firm Applidium are claiming to have breached Apple’s Siri’s security and discovered the format used to communicate with both Apple servers and the iPhone 4S.
The report stated that the hackers ……sorry, engineers had made a demo recording using tools they had created to send a command to Siri WITHOUT the use of an iPhone. Siri it was claimed had responded.
The implications of this apparently true event opens up the possibility that non iPhone users, with the aid of Applidium’s software, could open the voice activated assistant to competing platforms and applications.
Could This Development Strike At Apple’s Core?
There can be little doubt that Apple regarded Siri as a key differentiation to other smartphones, many priced much lower than the iPhone.
Already manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung have outsold Apple in this market in the last quarter. Any infringement upon the iPhone’s perceived uniqueness may reduce Apple’s ability to charge premium price and profit to match.
Lightening Only Strike’s Once? No It Doesn’t.
The Applidium hack is actually the second; only last month Dexetra.com were credited with building a Siri clone they had named “Iris”. This clone permitted users to make voice searches in the same manner as Siri; opening the door to speculation that with some careful avoidance of patent infringement, that voice intuitive searches could soon be coming to the Android world.
Will The Empire Strike Back?
With a new CEO at the helm, Apple are unlikely to remain passive and one assumes that the Attorneys will have a field day. But, in the long term if voice recognition becomes a reliable and convenient tool, then Apple’s monopoly will be short lived and Androids will soon be on a par.
Of course there is another scenario. If some geek replicates Applidium’s success but then puts the falsified string onto an App and distributed it globally … voila.!
Is Siri Seriously Threatened?
It seems to UnlockWorldwide.com that Apple may find at least a few pips got into the recipe, but in the longer term only a minority want their device to operate on pirated software. What is surprising is the apparent ease with which these two companies slid below Apple’s security.
The Apple success is something of a myth. Pop the bubble and destroy the myth and Apple may just appear an expensive toy. An elegant toy, but somewhat expensive.