Time for E-Commerce to Get Siri-ous?

I love talking to voice recognition systems. My Honda was a hoot. “What is the meaning of life?” I’d ask. To which the minivan would reply, “Sirius XM Channel 150 on.” True story. Also true: this demo. The odds that the Siri personal assistant app would work this seamlessly on an iPhone are about as high as The New England Patriots winning Superbowl XLIV. And yet, there it is. Unfortunately, as with Apple’s iPad, Siri’s set-up for slacking, not buying actual stuff. But the option—and potential—are there. Call it Big Brother Lite: a program that will tell you what to buy, where to buy it, when to buy it/have it delivered and, wait for it, if you can afford it. Siri ain’t it, yet, but it begs the wider question: is there a market for such a thing? Would users really surrender their commercial lives to a “virtual assistant”? Yes. Siri-iously.

So what’s it all about Alfie? I mean, Dag Kitlaus. Speaking with eWeek.com, Siri’s CEO explained the difference between his company’s artificial intelligence (AI) app and Google’s world dominating search engine.

Search engines don’t work like Siri. They do statistical matching on indexes and they don’t understand what you’re trying to do, they’re just correlating words to words that exist on Web sites. Google will give you information that has the promise to get you where you want to go, but you have to go down several streams and you often find out it wasn’t what you thought it was. Siri holds your hand all the way through the process until you’ve completed the task.

It’s the last bit that makes the case for Siri as a killer e-tailer app. The Internet is a daunting place for anyone trying to buy anything. Justifiable fears about identity theft and lousy service has prevented online shopping from getting anywhere near a double digit share of total U.S. retail sales. Any widget that can hold the consumer’s metaphorical hand through the entire purchase process would be a proverbial goldmine.

Trust is a big part of Siri, right from the git-go. Firing-up the app requires the Apple-mandated “use this location” permission screen. And then we’re straight into data capture: name and email. “I need to know who I’m working with, so I can protect your privacy,” Siri’s surrogate asserts. Fine print: we won’t sell your personal info per se, but your cookies are ours. Check our privacy policy regularly; if we change it, you’ll have to opt out.

We are not reassured.

“Alice in Wonderland playing locally.” The speed and accuracy of Siri’s Nuance-sourced voice recognition (VR) is stunning. The words appear with in seconds, exactly as I say them. Even my cod southern drawl and mock Indian customer assistance rep accents can’t flummox the widget. There’s a big blue button tagged “That’s right! Go” and a smaller one asking me to say it again. But I don’t have to. Ever. Magic.

“Ok,” Siri’s screen says. “I found these events featuring ‘Alice: around Wonderland / Scottsdale 85257.” Pressing on . . . “You didn’t mention a date, so I looked for upcoming events. I looked up to 6000 miles away.” Too bad I’m not a sun-seeking fan of the band Alice in Chains, then. I can modify the search for another performer’s name, location, etc. Johnny Depp need not apply.

Best to use the category prompts, me thinks. The app informs me that “Best sushi near here” works. After speaking the words, Siri quickly generates a local list, complete with star ratings and a tap-to-call button. As for who decided which ones were “best,” Siri credits Opentable, Gayot, Citysearch, allmenus.com Yahoo! local and Yelp! Weighted how? No se, senor. Suffice it to say, five stars are the catch of the day.

And now e-commerce . . .

Siri’s main menu offers a “Local businesses” section with the voice prompt example “nearest gas station.” Mind you, you don’t have to use voice recognition. Tap on the “Local businesses button” and you can search by category or name. There are 25 sub-cats, none of which involve electronics or clothes. VR works and works comprehensively, though. “Buy shotgun” brings up a list of local gun dealers.

Clicking on a listing brings up a three-tab sub-menu: reviews, details (at the mo’ just the phone number) and a place to write and store notes on a given listing. You can save the listing to “My Stuff,” “Share via email, or “Map It.” Clearly, someone has thought this one through. The app is clean, clear, concise and coherent; with excellent FAQ’s and a useful email reminder thingie.

Yes, but can it make a cup of coffee? No, but can it be used for e-commerce? Ja nee. Siri’s supposedly good to go, what with its ability to store your credit card details (duh-duh-DUH) and its relationship with “over 30 partners.” Most of Siri’s pals are info services like Bing, Yahoo! local and Yelp. Only a handful are ready to take your money: Affinion scam-meisters MovieTickets.com, StubHub, Alliance Reservations Network. Other than that, no se.

Absent from either list: stuff. It’s hard to believe that Siri would launch their app without making it possible for users to buy actual goods, turning its back on a $146 billion market a hair trigger away from explosive growth. But there you go. By not enabling non-digital e-commerce, Siri’s backers have positioned the service as a damn fine search engine, with a ticket buying function and an email alarm clock. Which, for those of you keeping score, is pretty much what Dag Kitlaus said Siri wasn’t.

To surmount its search engine-with-bells-on positioning, Siri needs to add value to the information it provides. Offering info geographically ain’t enough. Price is an obvious filter, but PriceGrabber and their ilk have that one wired, but good. Which still leaves several intriguing possibilities.

How about a universal shopping recommendation engine whatsit? Move over Blippy (and die). Siri could keep track of your purchases of, well, everything, and then make recommendation based on the totality of your buying habits. It could even prompt you to buy things based on your buying patterns. I see you’ve bought a fancy dress. Do you have shoes to go with it?

In fact, why wait for you to buy things? Why not gradually build a profile through discussion? Filter information based on ongoing interactions between Siri and the user. Again, prompt. Good morning! How about you make spaghetti bolognese tomorrow? I can get the ingredients delivered this afternoon.

Would users freak at the invasion of privacy? Absolutely not. Most users couldn’t give a damn about privacy; they want identity and credit card safety. But there’s another missing element required: personality. Siri doesn’t really have one. Oh, it’s polite and all. But there’s no joy, no sense of humor, no wit, no sense of surprise or delight. It’s almost as if the service was designed by programmers at SRI’s Artificial Intelligence Center. Oh wait! Snap!

Still, in all, Siri is one clever piece of kit that works exceptionally well. Even if Siri doesn’t make the jump to hyper-retail-space, it will still be seen as a landmark development in the history of e-commerce. Because the scenario I described will happen. It’s just a question of who, what, when, where and how.