When Apple released iPhone 4S, one of the major selling points of the smartphone was the fact that it packed the voice-based assistant, Siri. Since then, Siri has become an integral part of the whole iOS experience. It has now been revealed that just before Apple bought the app, Verizon was planning to use it.
In fact, not only was Verizon planning to use Siri, but had carved out plans for loading it as a pre-installed app on Droid smartphones. That would have tilted the odds in favor of Google and the Android ecosystem at large. Verizon went so far as to create commercials, touting the new would-be feature of the Droid smartphones it was planning to offer.
However, Apple turned out to be a last-minute party-popper. Verizon had signed a contract with the startup that created Siri back in 2009. Soon enough, Apple was also in talks with the startup and Siri’s co-founder, Dag Kittlaus. And once Steve Jobs determined that Siri was good enough for iOS devices, he was quick to make an offer.
Naturally, the startup accepted Apple’s offer which included exclusive rights to Siri. In other words, the new agreement with Apple effectively trashed Verizon’s chance of using Siri on Droid smartphones. According to Kittlaus, “It was a storybook ending — or beginning, you can call it.”
Suffice to say the storybook ending was good for Apple, leaving the company fairly happy with the timely acquisition of a vital app; and a bad ending for Verizon who closely brushed with the acquisition of an app that was to make it big in the following days.
Source: HuffPost
Courtesy: 9to5mac
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