Google Now is cool as ******, can Apple match it?

[iPad 2]

If you've never had the pleasure of using it before... Google Now is an andriod exclusive feature that if you choose to enable acts as an intelligent personal assistant that figures out what you need to know without you having to ask it to...

It scans through and monitors your email to find out automatically when your appointments are, autoadd them to your calender and reminds you before hand about them.

It figures out where you work, where you live, and what your typical schedule is like (you can of course change this information) and automatically sends you handy reminder when you need to do something including automatically inform you how long it will take you to get to the appointment that you have scheduled in 30 mins

It identifies patterns in the types of information you search for... sees that you're searching for a deal on a specific item and automatically notifies when a good deal pops up on a site like slickdeals or fatwallet, looking for information about a specific topic and automatically notifies when a story about this topic shows up, figures out that you follow a specific sports team and automatically sends you a notification as soon as one of their games end, with the final score ready at the click of a button if desired.

If you're searching for a local restaurant/business, it automatically sends you all the key info you may want to know about that restaurant/business organized onto one card (location, how long it will take you to get there, phone number, menu, reviews, hours of operation etc).

It's basically a much more intelligent personal assistant than siri, one that acts and feels less like a voice search and more like an actual human assistant that keeps track of things like your appointments, and auto notifies you of critically important emails without you having to tell it to each time.

And most surprisingly of all, it actually works, really well.

As much as I love iOS and prefer it overall to Andriod, the two things that I wish iOS offered was something truly comparable to Google Navigation and Google Now.

Do you guys think Apple will be able to pull off something similar to this for iOS in the near future, a Siri 2.0 perhaps?

 

[Vundu]

They will just keep making Siri better.

 

[zbarvian]

Yes, it's awesome. I would like to see more uses for it, though. Theoretically, the possibilities are pretty insane.

And Google is a data company. That's really all they do. They collect data about you so they can target you with personalized ads, give you a better search experience, and achieve technology like Google Now. It's really not a technology that could be done over at Apple.

 

[DollaTwentyFive]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or a privacy nut, but I do have to say that a phone "learning" about me, tracking all my appointments, where I eat, etc... That's a little scary.

Yes, I know all phones have GPS and tracking, etc... But this seems pretty overt. For some reason it rings a caution bell for me.

 

[zbarvian]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or a privacy nut, but I do have to say that a phone "learning" about me, tracking all my appointments, where I eat, etc... That's a little scary.

Yes, I know all phones have GPS and tracking, etc... But this seems pretty overt. For some reason it rings a caution bell for me.

You can opt out, I believe, so it won't gather info about you. If you want to use it, you just have to understand and accept that it'll be collecting that kind of data about you.

 

[mankar4]

Google now is awesome. Did you see the rumor that they are going to start incorporating it into the Chrome browser? That will be incredible!

 

[torana355]

Google and Samsung are the real innovators lately. Apple need to stop thinking about their bottom dollar and start giving customers what they want.

 

[hyteckit]

Google Now seems cool.

But I find it pretty much useless.

All I get is the weather, commute times, and recommendations for strip clubs/night clubs.

Already turned it off on my Galaxy Note 2 in less than 2 weeks of use.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Google Now is great but it still drains the batteries too quickly if you ask me. It's apparently coming to chrome on the desktop too.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

And Google is a data company. That's really all they do. They collect data about you so they can target you with personalized ads, give you a better search experience, and achieve technology like Google Now. It's really not a technology that could be done over at Apple.

EXACTLY why I won't use it. I already give up enough privacy to marketers. Now they want to snoop on my day even further? Enough already!

 

[kristoffer4]

I also wouldn't mind if Apple borrowed this for Siri.

 

[dalbir4444]

EXACTLY why I won't use it. I already give up enough privacy to marketers. Now they want to snoop on my day even further? Enough already!

But if you Google's search engine and GMail, they are already aware of your search history and emails, so in that case you might as well just use Google Now.

 

[lordofthereef]

I honestly think privacy concerns are blown way out of proportion. AFAIK, they don't actually store data on on specific user (in terms of your actual name). In other words, John Doe is not identified and then given tailored ads. The devices John Doe is using are identified, and while the end result is the same, if the data got into the wrong hands, it wouldn't be linked to a specific person.

 

[Oletros]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or a privacy nut, but I do have to say that a phone "learning" about me, tracking all my appointments, where I eat, etc... That's a little scary.

Yes, I know all phones have GPS and tracking, etc... But this seems pretty overt. For some reason it rings a caution bell for me.

It is opt in

 

[onthecouchagain]

I honestly think privacy concerns are blown way out of proportion. AFAIK, they don't actually store data on on specific user (in terms of your actual name). In other words, John Doe is not identified and then given tailored ads. The devices John Doe is using are identified, and while the end result is the same, if the data got into the wrong hands, it wouldn't be linked to a specific person.

Yup.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I honestly think privacy concerns are blown way out of proportion. AFAIK, they don't actually store data on on specific user (in terms of your actual name). In other words, John Doe is not identified and then given tailored ads. The devices John Doe is using are identified, and while the end result is the same, if the data got into the wrong hands, it wouldn't be linked to a specific person.

Actually, they do. This is why they changed their privacy terms last year.

But only Google has access to this info. For now.

And the ads have been proven to target an individual by name, as already evidenced on a number of forums where people began receiving unsolicited email from new businesses they had only been nearby, but never engaged directly. Can't get much more targeted than sending your travel info to an enrolled merchant as a "validated" spam target.

 

[Irishman]

Google and Samsung are the real innovators lately. Apple need to stop thinking about their bottom dollar and start giving customers what they want.

And what do customers want??

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exactly why i won't use it. I already give up enough privacy to marketers. Now they want to snoop on my day even further? Enough already!

+1

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I honestly think privacy concerns are blown way out of proportion. AFAIK, they don't actually store data on on specific user (in terms of your actual name). In other words, John Doe is not identified and then given tailored ads. The devices John Doe is using are identified, and while the end result is the same, if the data got into the wrong hands, it wouldn't be linked to a specific person.

Well, with this Google Now, it won't be data in aggregate we're talking about them having access to. Now that they'll be getting your permission to track this data, I would expect them to use it! It's their stated use case for the thing.

Your personal data.

 

[Scrub175]

And what do customers want??

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+1

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Well, with this Google Now, it won't be data in aggregate we're talking about them having access to. Now that they'll be getting your permission to track this data, I would expect them to use it! It's their stated use case for the thing.

Your personal data.

I don't hear the hundreds of apple users I work with complain about their iPhones missing features. They're just excited about the new iwhatever coming out. It's the very few niche users that say Apple needs to get their act together and listen to their customers. Usually those niche users are on the webs too. Sorry to piggyback of your reply but you are 100% correct.

Google now is a big step in technology. Each major step in technology appears to cost the end user a little more privacy intrusion. Most folks don't care as we have nothing to hide, but there is a breaking point.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

What many consumers don't realize is that Google is in the personal data business. They don't make money the way Apple, Microsoft and Samsung does. They make almost ALL of their money from Advertising. They want to be the single biggest spambot on planet earth and their Android strategy is to use the devices to make their spam more profitable and powerful.

So feel free to give them as much personal data as you want....it's all part of their strategy to profit by exposing your personal data to marketing firms. Apple, Microsoft make money from stuff they actually make and produce. Google makes money off of YOUR data that YOU give away for gadgety features.

The only thing Google is innovating is PT Barnum 2.0.

 

[MisterKeeks]

Google and Samsung are the real innovators lately. Apple need to stop thinking about their bottom dollar and start giving customers what they want.

I agree 100% about Google being a big innovator. I know that out of all the Windows and Android manufacturers, Samsung is the best (except for possibly some of the Nexus devices). However, I don't know that Samsung is quite as big of an innovator as Apple. Apple gave us the Retina display, and I don't think Samsung has had much to match that with. The reason they are successful is not all innovation- a lot of it is just the quality of their products.

 

[daveathall]

TBH, I'm not really bothered about what info whatever company has legally gathered about me, I am law abiding so, again, I don't worry about it, I will get ads through the post, on my computer and from the loyalty cards the misses keeps from the supermarkets. If apple don't collect my information how come I get e mails with the latest offers, how come I get genius mixes from albums I have bought from iTunes, hell, they even have my credit card details. If this info is used to enrich my life through technology, it is a price I'm willing to pay.If it is used to capture a murderer or rapist because of the GPS on their phone, I'm OK with that also.

 

[Oletros]

And the ads have been proven to target an individual by name, as already evidenced on a number of forums where people began receiving unsolicited email from new businesses they had only been nearby, but never engaged directly. Can't get much more targeted than sending your travel info to an enrolled merchant as a "validated" spam target.

Any proof of this?

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it's all part of their strategy to profit by exposing your personal data to marketing firms.

Any proof that Google exposes personal data to marketing firms or it is only FUD?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Not really a big fan yet of Google Now, but I do like the sports notifications.

 

[strausd]

Is there any way to have it look at all my emails accounts or is it limited to my GMail account?

 

[ucfgrad93]

While I haven't used it myself, everything I've read about it makes it seem pretty awesome.