How Do iPhone 4S Owners Use Siri? (Parks Associates Study)

Apple's voice-based virtual personal assistant Siri has experienced its fair share of controversy since its release with the iPhone 4S last October -- just this month, Siri suffered through a lawsuit because one man claimed Apple misrepresented its capabilities.

Despite this fact, most iPhone 4S users seem to like Siri just fine, though they don't put its assistance to use very often.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to a survey recently released by market research and consulting company Parks Associates, U.S. iPhone 4S owners usually use Siri to make phone calls and send text messages. In addition, only about a third of owners use Siri daily or almost daily, while 87 percent use at least one of its features monthly.

Parks Associates surveyed 482 U.S. iPhone 4S users on their use and opinions of Siri for their "Apple iPhone Siri Users" report. The survey also found that more than 50 percent of iPhone 4S owners are "very satisfied" with Siri, while an additional 21 percent are "satisfied."

According to the Wall Street Journal, many Siri users are limiting how they put the app to work: Thirty-two percent of users have never used Siri to play music, 35 percent have never used it to schedule meetings, and 30 percent have never used it to send an email. With this in mind, it's not very surprising that only 37 percent of owners would like to have a similar assistant for their TV set.

“Siri is clearly a hit among the initial iPhone user base,” said Park Associates director of consumer analytics John Barrett in a March 27 blog post. “Consumers like Siri because it's convenient, easy to use, and helpful for remembering important information (e.g., birthdays) and its hands-free capability makes it easy to send texts, emails, and phone calls. However, I would have expected more owners to want Siri for their TV set. These are the folks that rushed out to get the new iPhone 4S.”

While Siri may not see much success with TV sets, perhaps once it acquires sharing sports scores as a service -- a very likely possibility, according to an AppleInsider report -- iPhone 4S users might be more apt to use Siri's services more often.

Techland's Jared Newman suggests that Apple must improve Siri in several areas before users begin to take full advantage of it. He suggests that when Siri comes out of beta, it should feature turn-by-turn navigation and support for more third-party apps than it currently offers, among several other improvements. (Visit Techland to see his full list.)

What do you like to use Siri for? Are you satisfied with the app? Let us know in the comments! And make sure to flip through the slideshow below to view some of the best submissions from a recent contest hosted by Shapeways that asked participants to create renderings of what they imagine Siri might look like.

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Comments

[Curlee]

06:25 PM on 03/29/2012

I can't understand why Siri is getting so much credit as if it is the invention of voice recognition software. Oh. It's on an Apple product. Nevermind.

[baraboobian]

08:21 AM on 03/29/2012

perhaps i mumble, but siri never understands what i say...very frustrating

side note: siri will never say her age..."I'm not allowed to answer that question" or "I don't see why that should matter"...very odd

[J P P]

08:00 AM on 03/29/2012

Siri is silly.

I used to use the apple voice activated dialing. Now that Siri does all the work, I've had to change that habit. About 50% of the time, Siri is not available (bad cell reception in my area?) and since Siri cannot access the information that is already on my phone without first connecting to some magical Apple/Siri server somewhere...

[Barbarian At The Gate]

02:46 AM on 03/29/2012

I was wondering if Apple TV will evolve into a home server that can handle voice activated home automation via Siri. That may be far in the future.

[Killermolls44]

12:10 PM on 03/29/2012

You can do that with xbox already.

[Barbarian At The Gate]

12:45 PM on 03/29/2012

Cool. I didn't know that, I don't have one.

[Neitherpartieslapdog]

09:41 PM on 03/28/2012

I got my son an iPhone 4s for his birthday. He used it for a couple of days and never used it again. He says "Dad, I'm just not as easily amused as a 14 year old girl". I asked him why he didn't care for it. He told me its like watching a slinky going down stairs when he was 5, kind of a mindless gimmick, and pretty soon you find something more useful to do with your time.

[JohnTheMac]

02:14 AM on 03/29/2012

Wow... I feel so bad using Siri to read and reply to text messages on the PA Turnpike today.
I didn't know I was supposed to feel like a 14 year old girl.
I hope your son reads and types messages while driving, Siri-ously, I do! LOL

[RealityMyFriend]

03:06 AM on 03/29/2012

You shouldn't be txting in any form while driving. drrrrr...

[thesoze]

11:57 AM on 03/29/2012

the whole iPhone is a gimmick, suckers!

[Pectin]

05:40 PM on 03/28/2012

As usual, the people that don't have Siri hate it.

[frank day]

05:58 PM on 03/28/2012

And some of us that do don't care for it either.

[RealityMyFriend]

03:06 AM on 03/29/2012

It isn't useful and I have it.

[commonsensor2009]

04:50 PM on 03/28/2012

"more than 50 percent of iPhone 4S owners are "very satisfied" with Siri" - Of course for 98% of those people Siri is the only one who will talk to them.

[DMSmith]

10:53 PM on 03/28/2012

OH....You're SO cute!
Is that a commonsense good turn?

[commonsensor2009]

11:56 AM on 03/29/2012

I would answer you, but, Siri might get jealous. Have a nice day.

[Andre Fabre]

03:44 PM on 03/28/2012

Unfortunately, Siri is not ready for prime time as of yet. The system gets confused by simple background noise, and it is rather picky about “regional accents”. It seems to me that English is still too complex a language for such a small device to process.

[DRaymond]

02:37 PM on 03/28/2012

I frankly expected that once the party novelty aspect of it wore off that Siri would be utilized as a basic voice-command system and not, in the words of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation slogan "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with!"  Having to speak a full sentence, wait for it to be transmitted and processed, listen to the voice response, and then finally see the results of the web search (presuming it was all understood properly) just doesn't count as convenient.  As Arthur Dent learned, life isn't made better when your machines have Real People Personalities.

[themoosespeaks]

01:39 PM on 03/28/2012

Polling iPhone users on how satisfied/dissatisfied with the product they are is nearly pointless. A majority were "satisfied" at the poor antenna performance of the 4. They're still satisfied with the undersized screen, lack of 4G and other features rapidly becoming standards elsewhere. In short, they'll naturally be satisfied with most anything the iPhone delivers, however substandard, or they wouldn't be iPhone users.

[Onutz]

02:56 PM on 03/28/2012

((A majority were "satisfied" at the poor antenna performance of the 4.))

A majority of Android users are "satisfied" with substandard design and malware infested apps.

"Samsung readily acknowledges it has yet to attain Apple's innovative spark. And Lee concedes he is no match - yet - for Jonathan Ive"

To each his clone.

[Tsvi1]

03:21 PM on 03/28/2012

Sure, but that's because most of us use actual computers and know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately for Apple users, they get their hands held and so cannot possibly deal with anything thats a little of their comfort zones.

[themoosespeaks]

03:35 PM on 03/28/2012

Substandard design? Of what? Do you mean not as IKEA as the smooth glassy plain appearance of the iStuff? That's subjective. If you mean technically, I'd point you to the "innovations" Apple added to the iPhone, and those they have yet to add, that have been industry standard long before iStuff saw them. (3G, FF camera, Video, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Stereo, Bluetooth audio control, 4G,...)

As for malware infested apps, the extent of the "infestation" is negligible so long as you stick to the Android Market. Users who install 3rd party apps do so at their own risk, but at least have the choice. Which isn't to say that some malware hasn't hit the market, but that's the price of freedom.

It's ironic that the famous apple "1984" commercial should be turned on its ear with Apple being Big Brother now and it's people enthusiastically willing to acept life under their control.

[poster1122]

12:25 AM on 03/29/2012

So polling people who actually own and use the product on their satisfaction level is now pointless? Because it's better to poll people who don't have one on how well it serves them? While we're at it, why don't we start reviewing movies we've never seen, books we've never read, and restaurants we've never stepped in, since actual personal experience with these things is counterproductive in forming an meaningful opinion?!

[formlessness]

12:27 PM on 03/28/2012

I like Siri it's great for setting reminders really quickly, I also use it all the time to play music in the car. What Siri needs is more commands and abilities. Sending emails and texts is great, but why can't she read them to me. And why can she only read the last text received, why not whole threads? And why can't she open apps for me?

[Daniel Myers]

02:42 AM on 03/30/2012

Siri is also the only way I know to set alarms and timers with one touch.

[tarraxo]

11:58 AM on 03/28/2012

More often than not, I have to wait just as long for Siri to respond to my inquiry as it would take me to go in and search/dial/type myself. About 60% of the time, I've gotten the response "I'm really sorry about this, but I cannot take any requests at this time". I would NEVER suggest using it for web searches.

When I have used it successfully, I liked using it while I'm driving to call/text someone and to find local businesses' contact information. It's great for conversions - for example, with my hands full in the kitchen the other day, I said "Four tablespoons to cups". Siri seems best just for simple things - hopefully that was the intention of developers.

[booboo111]

11:51 AM on 03/28/2012

How do iPhone owners using Siri?

[jpalmettoguy]

11:24 AM on 03/28/2012

Siri sucks. She is slow and can't "access certain content." She also told me that it wasn't in her job description to read web articles to me.

[Onutz]

03:01 PM on 03/28/2012

((She also told me that it wasn't in her job description to read web articles to me.))

However, there is an app for that called Speak It.
I use it often to read movie scripts.

[jpalmettoguy]

03:44 PM on 03/28/2012

nice! Thanks for the tip!

[J0E1]

10:47 AM on 03/28/2012

How Do iPhone Owners Using Siri?

Nice HPo.  It wouldn't surprise me to know that you are now using an "Apple article generating bot" to randomly throw words together from previous Apple articles and release it as a new one.