Without a doubt, the Siri voice recognition feature in Apple"s iPhone 4S has generated a lot of press for the smartphone. But try telling that to Microsoft"s Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie. In a new video interview at the Forbes web site, Mundie is asked for his opinion on Siri as an alternate user interface. Mundie says, "The TellMe facilities has been in Windows Phone for more than a year."
While Mundie admits that Apple might have an edge on marketing the Siri feature in iPhone 4S, he also feels that many people have hooked on to Siri because, in his opinion, there wasn"t much else that was new with the iPhone 4S when Apple launched it in October. The TellMe feature in Windows Phone 7 does most of the same voice recognition features as Siri, including using voice to send text messages and search for anything using Microsoft"s Bing. Mundie says, "All that"s already there; fully functional and been there for a year."
Mundie also discusses Microsoft"s efforts with the Kinect motion sensor device and technology, which has its own voice recognition features. Mundie predicts a big holiday season for the device as it pertains to its Xbox 360 game sales but also hints about Kinect"s future applications beyond gaming. That"s something that Microsoft confirmed this week when it announced plans for a new Kinect hardware device made especially for Windows in 2012.