Google Developing Siri Competitor for Q4, Dubbed Google Assistant

Siri has, for all its successes and failures, become a huge selling point for the iPhone 4S. The device has been a hit, even despite its recycled design, which has been due in large part to Apple’s voice assistant. So Google, not to be outdone by the folks in Cupertino, apparently have a voice assistant of its own in the pipeline, one that TechCrunch claims will go well beyond Siri in many ways.

Previously known as Majel, Google’s new “Assistant” will apparently be open sourced, giving developers access to the service to further improve apps and products. This means that Assistant can potentially be utilized in programs, apps, browsers, etc.

The project is reportedly being spearheaded by the Android team, with search engineer Amit Singhal heavily involved. While Google already has its share of voice technology, developing one under the leadership of its flagship OS team will no doubt make for a pretty killer digital assistant.

According to one TechCrunch source, the project has three parts:

Get the world’s knowledge into a format a computer can understand.
Create a personalization layer – Experiments like Google +1 and Google+ are Google’s way of gathering data on precisely how people interact with content.
Build a mobile, voice-centered “Do engine” (‘Assistant’) that’s less about returning search results and more about accomplishing real-life goals.
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t have plans to unveil Assistant until Q4 of this year – perhaps to coincide with the release of Jelly Bean – so we’re still in for a bit of a wait. On the bright side, though, it’ll just give the company that much more time to really hone the software before it hits consumer hands…or voices.

via [TechCrunch]