Apple Bringing Siri To Mac OS X‏

Apple’s virtual assistant technology could be coming to Mac OS machines in the near future, according to a recent patent, named ‘Intelligent Digital Assistant in a Desktop Environment’. The new patent could add Siri on the next desktop update, OS X Yosemite.

The update has been long awaited, after Apple announced Siri in October 2011. Currently, the virtual assistant is only available on the iPhone and iPad. This means Apple will have to redefine functions for the desktop version, including better file/folder management.

Voice recognition is not new to the desktop environment, in fact ease-of-use settings have offering voice recognition since the 1990s. The most popular service is Dragon Naturally speaking, but Siri could overtake Nuance’s service on Mac OS quickly.

Siri has a number of compelling features when paired with Apple’s new Continuity, it makes perfect sense to add the voice recognition platform onto Mac OS. Continuity allows users to move from Mac OS to iOS and reverse, and also Apple has added more iCloud cross platform integration.

Still, we cannot help but feel this is like adding a fingerprint sensor to Mac’s and MacBooks, it has not worked in the past. Every fingerprint sensor on a desktop PC has failed to gain any traction and it feels like the desktop platform needs more work put into it than the mobile, to be of any worth.

The same issues could plague Siri – even in its current form on mobile it is not widely used, on Mac OS it might be even more underused, especially if looking for folders takes longer with voice than it does with Spotlight.

Either way, Apple should announce Siri on Mac OS whenever OS X Yosemite becomes official.

[Image via  Macsessed]