Siri Expected to Arrive on the iPad 3 Later This Year
iPad3-release.com, a leading source of iPad 3 and Apple devices news, is reporting that plans are underway to deploy Siri, which up until now has been available exclusively for the iPhone 4S, on the latest iPad model by the end of the year.
iPad 3 users running iOS 5.1 can already make use of voice command features, yet up until now the device has not supported Siri, Apple's voice-activated personal assistant. That's all set to change following the upgrade to iOS 6 firmware that was unveiled at the company's annual WWDC Conference on June 11.
"Obviously, certain commands specific to the iPhone will be missing from the iPad 3 version, but everything else that Siri offers will be included," revealed Dan Lim, chief editor of iPad3-release.com. "This includes essential features, such as calendar management, email, contact searching, messaging, maps, reminders, music control, Wolfram-Alpha, Safari commands, and weather. In addition, we suspect many more Siri features will be made available."
iPad3-release.com revealed that Apple is said to be testing Siri on both the iPad 3 and the iPad 2, although word is that the company will limit the release of Siri to just the new iPad. Apple rolled out Siri slowly by limiting the application to just the iPhone 4S and islikely to take a similar approach with the iPad version, restricting it to only the latest model. This is in line with Apple's claim that Siri will slowly learn and grow as it is employed by more consumers.
Reportedly, one of the main sticking points with the iPad Siri version was whether the device's microphone would be able to understand user commands, given that it has to be held further away than the iPhone. However, it's believed that Apple has ironed out any potential problems this might cause.
One major difference between the iPhone 4S version and the new iPad 3 version of Siri is that the app will not take up the entire screen on the latter. Because the iPad 3 has a significantly larger display than its cell phone counterpart, Siri will appear in a small window in a central portion of the bottom of the screen.