Siri Would Have Embarrassed Steve Jobs

Economically, Siri has provided Apple with billions of dollars in profit. It has helped the company sell more iPhones than it could have ever imagined. But as the number of Siri users continues to rise (more than 70 million people now own an iPhone 4S), Apple AAPL has incurred a growing number of complaints. In a piece published today, MarketWatch's Jon Friedman detailed his experiences with Siri. "I admit it: I had been dazzled by those catchy television commercials showing tough-talking actor Samuel L. Jackson and the ever-adorable actress/singer Zooey Deschanel doing their mundane household chores assisted by Siri, the voice-activated system on the new iPhone," Friedman wrote. "In other words, I bought the Apple-generated hype. I was a sucker." Friedman called Siri a "gimmick for self-indulgent people with a tremendous amount of time on their hands." "I asked the kinds of questions-for-a-rainy-day you might ask Siri, more out of boredom than outright curiosity," Friedman continued. "For instance, I wondered aloud (of course): 'How many Beatles songs did Ringo Starr sing?' I was referred to a Web search, and this was the usual response." Friedman also takes issue with the fact that Siri does not offer the fast response times that are demonstrated on the aforementioned TV commercials starring Jackson and Deschanel. Apple enthusiasts are quick to defend the software by reminding critics that it's "still in beta." Others simply say that Siri "works fine" for them and brush off the complaints as being led by Windows fanboys. But Friedman isn't the only one experiencing issues. He said that while visiting a few Apple stores in Manhattan, "Some employees let slip that they've been hearing an increasing amount of Siri flak." A Google search for "Siri complaints" yields nearly 1.2 million results, with top stories including information on the class action suit filed against Siri, as well as Apple's formal response ("Buy a different phone"), and a host of other blog and forum posts. It's a far cry from the more than seven million results you'll see when searching "iTunes complaints" or "iOS complaints." But considering the fact that Siri has only been around for eight months, the search results are quite high, and are likely to increase in the coming weeks. The most damaging complaint of all, however, could come from a former Apple insider who claims to know exactly how Steve Jobs would have responded to Siri's results. "People are embarrassed by Siri," a former insider told CNNMoney. "Steve would have lost his mind over Siri." While the insider's identity is unknown, his or her remarks are not unfounded. AppleInsider has detailed a scenario in which Jobs reportedly cursed and yelled at employees after the disappointing launch of MobileMe. Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ