Coming later today: Apple's next big software improvements
[...] as other tech giants jockey to build intelligent "chat bots" and voice-controlled home systems capable of more challenging artificial-intelligence feats, Siri at times no longer seems cutting edge.
The main question is whether it will be enough to keep up with rivals like Amazon, Google, Facebook and others who are racing to create digital services that consumers will find indispensable for shopping, chatting, controlling other appliances and simply getting through their daily lives.
"Google Now has kind of eaten their lunch," said Chris Monberg, co-founder of Boomtrain, a startup that makes artificial intelligence software used by online retailers.
Monberg argues that Google's proactive digital assistant provides more useful reminders, recommendations and tips on local weather or traffic, largely because it reads his email and other data from his Android phone and crunches it with sophisticated algorithms on Google's powerful servers.
[...] Jan Dawson, a tech analyst at Jackdaw Research, notes that Siri can volunteer helpful reminders from the Apple calendar, offer suggestions based on a user's location, or search for images stored in Apple's photo app.
[...] some experts say that puts it at a disadvantage compared to Google, which has compiled vast quantities of data — about both individual users and consumer trends — from its search engine, Gmail, maps and other well-liked online services.