While considering my next phone purchase, I thought deeply on what I really wanted in a phone. One of my asks: after my morning alarm wakes me in the morning I want it to start dictating relevant information. I’d like to know what the weather is going to be like today, and any appointments I have, and if it’s garbage day, and if a movie I want to see is coming out. I’ve seen this in movies… why don’t we have something like this available now? The smart phone is the most personal tech gadget ever created, yet there is still plenty of room left making it personal. Where is our friendly (sometimes sassy) smart digital assistant (SDA) we were promised?
To me, this is the holy grail of tech. It is the digital compliment to our own brains. Whichever tech company who executes this best will be crowned King.
I saw this article about an IBM team creating a digital Jeopardy opponent and I’d love to think artificial intelligence is a big part of the puzzle. IBM doesn’t seem a likely candidate to bring this to consumers, so who will?
Google of course is the most likely company. People who say Google should just stick to search and pass out dividends clearly do not think long term. I think Eric Schmidt is the only CEO is the race that is indeed already thinking about this problem. Microsoft is so far behind it would be hard to see them come back, but if they developed something wonderful like this, they could. Balmer would have to go though. Facebook is too busy trying to dominate social, which is a vital component, but only a piece of the pie.
So the questions is, which phone do I get? I think the choice is obvious: my next phone will be an Android. I hope I won’t have to wait too long though to have Kit read me my morning headlines though.
An asside: will the system running the SDA be owned by a single company, or can it be built openly?
