New reports suggest that Apple may be revealing a service they have been working on for years, that would tie several apps together for deeper search results.
Proactive is the codename for a service that Apple has reportedly been working on for a few years at this point, and we may see its debut as early as in iOS 9. The new feature would combine Siri, contacts, calendar, Passbook, and even third-party apps into search results, making it similar to Google Now. To ensure users can easily find this, Apple may be bringing back the page to the left of the homescreen. 9to5Mac reports:
Interestingly, Proactive will be found to the left of the first Home screen, just as Spotlight was prior to iOS 7's major redesign. According to sources, Apple's usage metrics for iOS suggest that Spotlight is not used as frequently as it could be because it is hidden above the Home screen without any indication of its location. Adding the feature back to the left of the Home screen will presumably boost usage, and consequently, take searches away from Google's window within Safari.
Within Proactive, users will see a dedicated search bar which will allow them to utilize standard Spotlight type features. Below this, the app will show context based off information it collects from the device's contacts, calendars, and other apps. Here is where users will be able to see their boarding pass around the time of their flight, view upcoming calendar appointments, and much more. Maps will also be a large focal point of Proactive, as Apple may allow users to see an augmented reality view of what is around them as part of a new feature called "Browse Around Me."
Finally, Apple is said to be releasing a limited API for Siri, which carries a codename of 'Breadcrumbs" currently.
According to sources, Apple is preparing to allow developers to integrate their applications into both iOS's search results and Siri, which has been redesigned to be more colorful in iOS 9, akin to its Apple Watch interface. While Apple has worked on a full Siri API that lets Siri access third-party app content, sources say the company is more likely to introduce a scaled-down service for developers codenamed "Breadcrumbs."
According to 9to5Mac none of these features are guaranteed to be found in iOS 9, as Apple plans to focus on stability this time around. Apple may introduce these new services in a scaled down version at first, with expansion of the capabilities over time.
Source: 9to5Mac
Reader comments
Apple said to be taking on Google Now with upcoming service codenamed 'Proactive'
I've been wanting something like this for a long time.
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This is a great start I guess. Better than nothing. The only issue I see is it appears to be very app centric rather than service/information centric. For example the beauty of Google now is that you will get your flight itinerary and boarding passes as Google now cards just by virtue of those things being emailed to you. That works for all kinds of things like package deliveries etc... The way this sounds, it will try to give you those bits of information ONLY if apps to corresponding information types are installed. So for instances I'll need to have an american airlines app installed for occasions when my flight is AL and also a southwest earliness app installed for occasions when I fly southwest, or a Unite app installed for cases.... well you get the picture. Also if I want tracked deliveries to show up then I'll have to have a delivery tracking app installed to feed "Proactive" with the information for me to glance at. Everything with iOS seems to be more and more and more apps installed for single use cases and that's exactly what Google now was designed to prevent. It's a single service serves you information without those single use apps installed. I guess it makes sense... Apple doesn't really 'get' the web and services. Their strength is single platform based apps, Googles strength is services and web based (read multi platform) services.
This has nothing to do with "getting the web" or not. It's about data. Google is a data-based company. Apple is a product based company. Apple's services enhance their products, Google's services are used to mine for more data. I'm not saying that's a bad thing - it's obviously good when you're interested in searching that data for something relevant.
There are two schools with regards to information and at what level should it be controlled. Google believes that they own and should be able to control what is done with it. Apple believes the end user should be able to decide what happens with that information and so they only act as facilitators between developer/service and user/client.
When you use a Google service you give up ownership of whatever information or data that is sent, received, entered when using those services. This gives Google the ability to dig through all your data and pick out whatever they think is "important". They get your flight information; Airline, departure, destination, etc. They get your delivery information; where it was sent from, where it's going, your name, etc. All by - as you say - just by looking through your emails.
Apple prefers to "make" the user actively engage in the processing of their information. So yes, if I'm flying United Airlines and want to be kept up to date on arrival/departure status then I need to download their app. Apple provides the developer and user a centralized location where that data can be stored and looked at; Passbook.
This has nothing to do with one company being better at picking out data over another. Apple's been using a data detection system since the early 90's to detect things such as phone, numbers, address, dates, etc. Extending that to other types of information is trivial.
The difference mainly lies in ethics and not technological abilities.
Writing as a person who owns Apple, Android and Microsoft devices, allow me to state that the constant regurgitation of Apple's corporate talking points is why some Android "fanboys" refer to their Apple enthusiast counterparts as "iSheep."
Google is not a "data-based company." They are a software company. They collect data on their users? All companies into the Internet software game do. Google wasn't the first. (Especially considering that collecting and analyzing user data preceded the Internet.) They are merely the best. So claiming that it has anything to do with "ethics" is - in addition to corporate marketing garbage - just something that people who prefer Apple use to feel morally superior to people who prefer a competing product, no different from Android fans who attack Apple over their prices. (Although the tendency of Apple fans to mock Android users as either "cheap" or "low income" does you no favors, and neither does the double standard between Android copying Apple as "infringement" but Apple copying Android is "making better products").
What is particularly hilarious: Apple, both its owners and its acolytes, had no problem with Google's data collecting and mining and no issues with user privacy until Google became Apple's number one competitor! That's right. Back then, Google's executives had prominent spots on Apple's board of directors, and Google's "unethical privacy threatening" apps and programs were featured front and center on Apple's hardware. Yep, back then, Apple and Google were the good guys helping take down the bad guy Microsoft, remember? It was only when Google thwarted Apple's hopes of enjoying the same near-monopoly on mobile devices that Microsoft was so "evil" for enjoying with PCs that Google became this unethical, evil companies.
And yes, Google is better. Why? Again, because they are a software company. Not only that, but they are the software company that either invented or mainstreamed a ton of the technology being used in this area today. Who knows where Internet, mobile etc. technology would be without Google. Actually, if you recall the garbage that existed before that Google came along and blew everyone off the map, there's an idea. (Example: Microsoft and Yahoo were trying to be what Google is now before Google was even founded, with Yahoo buying Time Warner/AOL and Microsoft co-creating MSNBC as examples. Over a decade later and they are still trying ... and still failing.)
So just as Apple, being a hardware company and one with nearly 40 years experience, is better at hardware (and marketing and consumer product development) than Google, Google is a better software and services than Apple is or will ever be. Example: iOS versus Android. Yes, iOS is better ... on the Apple hardware that is custom-designed for it. (Or more accurately, iOS is custom-designed for Apple hardware, which is the real product.) But a platform that runs well on products made by dozens of companies that use a practically unlimited combination of hardware components? That's Android. So no, the hardware (and the hardware/OS integration) of a Nexus can't match the same of an iPad or iPhone, but Google isn't trying to beat Apple at their own game to begin with. (Samsung is, maybe to a lesser extent LG is, but Google isn't).
So the difference lies ENTIRELY in being different types of companies, which yes includes ENTIRELY technological abilities. Claiming otherwise is ridiculous: Apple can't even offer their own SINGLE limited cloud product, iCloud, without help from their COMPETITORS Microsoft and Amazon with Azure and AWS. Apple has had to resort to "acqui-hiring" cloud companies to build out their own cloud infrastructure, and they are still at least a couple of years away from being able to offer their own viable customer-facing product. Meanwhile Google - in addition to competing directly with AWS and Azure as a cloud infrastructure host FOR CLIENTS LIKE APPLE - offer a ton of customer-facing cloud products and services of their own. If Apple had their own cloud products and expertise THEN WHY ON EARTH DO THEY NEED THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH DECLINING IBM TO HAVE AN ENTERPRISE PRESENCE BEYOND END-USER HARDWARE LIKE MACS, IPADS AND IPHONES? Simple: they can't compete with existing software companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, VMWare, Citrix and GOOGLE with products of their own, because their products either do not exist or are not competitive.
So "not technological abilities" my left foot. The reason why Apple doesn't do what Google and the rest of the software companies do has NOTHING to do with ethics and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that they CAN'T. They've NEVER been able to, which is why Microsoft ate Apple's lunch for the 20 years before the iPhone and iPad got big and even now in their diminished state are a much bigger software and services company than Apple will ever be, and the fact that Apple's has more cash on hand than the GDP of most developing nations and is the most profitable company in the history of the world doesn't change that.
Do you honestly think Apple can't parse an email and pull out flight information, or package tracking numbers - even though they had a system to detect specific types of data 20 years ago (before Google was even a company)?
Nice rant on all the things APPLE CANT DO. But you're seriously delusional if you honestly believe that Apple is not capable of doing all those things you mentioned. And don't pull the "acqui-hiring" card again - Google has acquired (in just 18 years, no less) almost 190 companies. Whereas, in 38 years, Apple has acquired only 70.
And by the way, partnering with a company or using a competitor's services is not an indication that a company is incapable of doing something. What it usually means is that it makes more business sense to go that route than do it yourself. Any company can only do so much with the resources they have at any given time, and sometimes it's more cost effective and timely to turn outside and outsource.
And I'd hate to point it out to you, but Google is not a software company; the software they write and services they provide are created to benefit their main revenue stream... advertising, which is over 90% of their total income.
Apple's software and services are developed to benefit their main revenue stream... hardware devices.
By the way, I don't feel superior for using Apple products ... I just feel more comfortable.
He never said they couldn't do those things. But they don't. And it is a very real advantage on many levels to obviously many people.
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He didn't?
"has NOTHING to do with ethics and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that they CAN'T. They've NEVER been able to"
Google isn't nearly as evil as so many would have people believe. The data they 'mine' is mostly mined by everyone else, even Apple. What they do with it is different but that doesn't make it worse. People seem to think Google is just giving out all of your personal info to whoever asks for it/whoever pays for it.
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I never said Google was evil. In fact, my post said nothing negative about Google. I merely pointed out that Google's business model is making money from advertising - the more data you can collect on a user the more that user is worth. That's a simple fact. This is why magazines publishers used to add customer survey cards in each issue; they could include ads for products that might appeal to their readers, thus making that ad space more valuable. That's Advertising 101. Furthermore, Google is not doing anything wrong; their users have given permission and allow them to do that; I don't see the evil in that. And I don't understand why it is so hard for people to grasp the fact that when you as a user gets a service for free, and the company that provides that service has no other way to generate income to subsidize that service, then YOU become the commodity and that's how a company monetizes that free service. That's Business 101.
I guess we'll agree to disagree then. Look, I love Apple products -especially hardware- but let's give some attention to historical detail and objective analysis here... When it comes to the 'web' or more specifically offering web based services, they just aren't strong. It's not an ethical thing, it's a core competency and culture thing. There is a reason that with every release of iOS and many new pieces of functionality, we get more and more apps pre-installed (healthbook, passbook, Apple Watch App, iBooks, Podcast, new rumored Home app, list goes on etc…). It's because they are very app centric and not services centric. They could go about deploying new features as services backend additions and allow you to download the corresponding apps from the App store that hook into this services backend (similar to how Google distributes new software/features) but they don’t and it’s not anything to do with ethics. It’s just not how they process and think through software/feature deployment. There are so many examples that show this for example:
1.) The iCloud suite (mail, calendar, etc…) – They’ve been trying to get this right since MobileME in 2008. Mobile Me was a debacle and Apple has even said as much. Since then however even now the web apps they offer (now branded as iCloud) are so slow and lacking in features – especially mail, contacts, calendar, pages, and iCloud drive. It lags behind in features, responsiveness, functionality you name it. Why? It’s not because they don’t have the resources – it can only be 1 of 2 thing. Either web services are an afterthought for them OR doing web services well just isn’t in their DNA. The mere fact that they’ve been trying to do this since MobileME leads us to believe it isn’t because they don’t WANT to do it well… they just can’t seem to do it well.
a. Speaking of cloud services, they seem to have a major outage several times a month every month for quite some time now which impacts both consumer services as well as developer services. Again lending credence to the fact that doing web based services well, just isn’t in their DNA
2.) Apple Maps App – A maps application? In 2014, are you kidding? A dedicated maps app instead of just a web based one, really shows their hand. Again they are app centric, not web services centric. They just aren’t good with building fluid web based experiences so they relegate to dedicated installed apps even if it’s not the best solution for the content. Yes of course the maps app connects to the data on the backend, but I think their technical ability Achilles heal really is responsive fluid web based application, not the data.
3.) iTunes and the iTunes store – There is so much to be said here but the crux of it all is, even now they don’t have a proper web view built for the iTunes store and web view built for iTunes at all. These are in a dedicated app. Unlike their competitors customers can’t browse the store from any computer using any browser, they have to use a computer with a dedicated app installed to get at the content. No web based store to buy music and not even a web based player to play the music you’ve purchased or uploaded to ‘the cloud’ using iTunes match. Again in 2015 this is very telling… especially when all their major competitors offer experiences that are both web based and more fluid and useful than Apples dedicated app.
Again this isn’t an ethics thing. It’s not like Apple doesn’t collect data – they do. The difference with Apple and Google in this regard isn’t the collection of data, it’s the usage of that data. Apple collects the data and uses for themselves and keeps it to themselves, Google collects the data and uses it for ads and sells it to others. The constant still remains however that they BOTH collect data. In Apples case though they just aren’t great at building compelling services using that data. Google is, and it has nothing to do with the ethical side of the camp; ie. Selling the data. Google could very well collect the data, not sell it and still use it for your benefit through compelling services like Google Now. That’s actually something that would be great for Apple to do but again their strength is in apps, not compelling web services. The differences in value/functionality of these 2 different paradigms is easy to see when set side by side using the real world examples you and I both mentioned…
With something like flight information, itinerary, and boarding passes:
Google Now – A couple days before your flight, the information shows up for your convenience and no interaction needed by you. You get your itinerary -regardless of multiple airline(s) for the same trip-, you’re boarding passes, points of interest around those airports and cities you will be in etc… you get the idea.
With the way it seems Apples Proactive would work – You have download an airline app after booking your flight, and if you book your flight using expedia, or priceline, or kayak or any other similar services (which millions upon millions of people use) your trip to and from could span multiple airlines so if you are using 4 different airlines to get to and from a destination then that is 4 separate apps you’d have to install, login, register your flight number, check in, and then get the itinerary for that leg of the flight, and boarding passes. This requires time spent, direct intentionality, and a level of inconvenience that may very well offset the convenience of having your boarding passes and itinerary information on your mobile device to begin with.
With something like package tracking:
Apple Proactive - You have to always keep some sort of package tracking app installed on your phone, even during the times when you don’t need to because you’re not currently tracking a package OR you have to intentionally download and install a package tracking application every time you order a product online. THEN you have to wait for the shipping confirmation and tracking number, then copy it to your clip board, then open the package tracking application, and setup your package to be tracked. If there are multiple packages and tracking number, repeat the process over and over again. AND if you have an Apple Watch, make sure that package tracking app has a companion watch app (the 2 top ones do, 1 of which I currently use) and make sure that glance is installed. Again a possible downside would be that if you leave the app installed all the time and accompanying glance, it just takes up space in your glance lineup even when you’re not using it.
Google Now – When you get shipping notifications they automatically show up as relevant information cards within Google now. And automatically show up on your watch as a ‘glance’. It takes the chore out of the equation and Just Works. There when you need it, not there when you don’t.
Now to be fair this is based on assumptions that Apple’s new service if/when it is released will follow the same path that they have historically. They very well could build/design it in a way that isn’t app centric and doesn’t require to download and install and configure and setup dozens of ad-hoc apps for single use. Even from the tidbits in the rumor however it doesn’t sound like that’s how they are designing it, and it’s not how they’ve ever really designed anything else so history isn’t on their side in this regard.
At any rate, I look forward to seeing what Apple has on tap for this. The fact that they are thinking of solutions and features along these lines is encouraging, especially coupled with the fact that they did purchase the cue digital assistant app which basically did everything Google Now does but did it years ago and with a service/data centric focus instead of an app centric focus. Either way more options on my iPhone can never be a bad thing, the execution of it just determines whether or not people will use it or find it useful.
Hmm. Well who better to give this information than the Apps made by the companies themselves (possibly more detailed information). This may be where this Apple service shines. If Apple releases in API with this service, based on the amount of developer devotion Apple Commands, this my be on of the most powerful information services out there. Its what Google, or Microsoft would kill for. This is one of Googles biggest problems. They want to do it all on there own (for Add Revenue). They treat there services the way Apple treats there hardware ecosystem. Google Now may never have integration with Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Or twitter, because they want all those users and info to themselves (Google+). Even if they did allow this type of integration, there now faced with there ongoing problem of getting lots of developers to support the new features of there platform. But Apple making a Google Now type service that integrates with the many apps that support there platform, combined with the amount developer devotion they have could be insanely powerful. In fact other worldly powerful.
Google Now simply hasn't impressed me. If I'm dealing with flight itinerary I'm simply sending the confirmation email to TripIt. Amazon notifies me of deliveries. I'm skeptical but we'll see what they have to offer. I tend to think they are simply recreating the wheel.
It can do a lot more than itineraries and package deliveries. You basically just tried to pick apart the two things someone mentioned in a comment and act like the service doesn't matter.
Google Now can tell you when a show you searched for previously is coming on, on television. It can proactively give you sports scores if it sees you have shown interest about them. It can proactively give you news about things you searched for, which can be helpful to people who are doing product research before buying stuff (i.e. having it just tell you when a new product review is posted by a reputable tech blog, etc. without you having to really look for anything).
It ties into your Calendar so it can tell you when you have to leave to go to your destination based on Traffic.
Google Now does a crap ton of stuff, Cortana as well. The issue with them is that they are dependent on you using the services in their ecosystem, and I don't think Apple's would be much different.
It does Reminders now (including Location-Based Reminders), among other things.
It's a pretty vast service. Cortana is similar because it's also pretty much a service like Google Now that uses your Microsoft Account and actions within Microsoft Services [when logged in, of course] as a "by the second" information repository.
If Apple's virtual assistant is dependent on you installing a flurry of apps so it can do anything useful, like Passbook is, then I'll probably never use that pane/screen for anything but running web searches.
Don't get me wrong I want Apple and Google to have success. I view AI as being the next big thing but it's evolving slowly. With Siri I'd really like to see an offline mode for dictation (no Internet required) and I'd love to see the all data presented in a better manner. A list of weblinks just isn't impressive to me as an information tool.
I don't think context is important especially with regard to geography. A tool that is proactive about telling me that I've got something in my Reminders/Task List that is coming up and there's a few stores nearby would be nice.
I still feel like we're 5 years away from this stuff really being viable.
Yeah, but installing a flurry of apps is what the majority of the world does on Smartphones. There is no frekin web version of Snapchat. Most of everything the younger generation does is in Apps. I've never done a web searches for information. I check twitter, or Facebook. Many may even say the web is dead.
I went on a vacation with my Nice, and while using her iPhone, she never once opened her web browser. Not once! Google has been worrying about this for some time now. Its one of the reasons they created Google +. And also one of the reasons Facebook is starting to out pace Google in add revenue.
I sure hope you can disable some of these. Don't get me wrong, if you like this sort of thing, then more power to you. For me, well, lets just say that my iPhone is my daily driver while my Nexus 5 stays home registered to my fake persona. The things Google Now knows about my fake self are creepy enough. Even creepier is that it managed to build a profile just from the newsletters and travel brochures that got sent to that particular gmail account. I wouldn't want Apple "proactively" doing the same with the vital info on my iPhone. If I can swipe left and be taken to Spotlight, fine. But I wouldn't want to see any smart recommendations for places of interest or whatnot. Weather and traffic suggestions are one thing, but I have absolute no interest in what specials the restaurant I walk by every day has, or the cost of plane tickets to Ibiza or Miami just because I get weekly newsletters from Resident Advisor.
I assume it would require that you give permission for the data to be accessed, at least for third party apps. I'll also assume that the results can be toggled on/off in Spotlight Settings.
Funny when Google does this it is so bad because they are mining your data, yet when apple does it, it is the best thing since sliced bread lol.
Google is a data based company while Apple is a product based company who's services enhance there product. So their is a difference. Obviously Google is more focused on sucking up more and more data
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