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Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?

By | November 1, 2011, 8:37am PDT

Summary: An analyst sees strong sales of the iPhone 4S in its current markets. If that momentum repeats overseas, Apple is set up for a monster December quarter.

Apple’s global rollout of its iPhone 4S is picking up as preorders for Hong Kong and South Korea kick off Nov. 4. So far, Apple’s voice recognition technology has driven sales for the iPhone 4S and now it’ll become clear whether Siri carries the day everywhere.

According to a statement, Nov. 11 marks another big leg in the iPhone 4S rollout. Apple said the iPhone 4S will be available in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania and South Korea. The company has 29 countries covered today and wants to get to 70 by the end of the year.

If Siri becomes a hit internationally and at scale, Apple may be setting it up for a monster December quarter. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said on Tuesday that his spot checks indicate that the iPhone 4S is generating strong sales. Apple customers also appear to be gravitating to the high-end iPhone over the iPhone 4 ($99) and iPhone 3GS (free with two-year contract). Wu wrote in a research note:

Despite global macroeconomic headwinds, Apple continues to defy conventional wisdom with a higher-end product mix. Talking to industry sources, what’s driving the 4S is better than expected reception of its new Siri software.

Other data points from Wu include:

  • Sprint is acquiring customers due to its unlimited data plan.
  • At Verizon, the iPhone 4S has good traction and grabbing Android and BlackBerry switchers as contracts renew.
  • Apple is expected to deliver 26 million iPhones in the December quarter based on Wu’s estimates.

Related:

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Apple Siri, Apple iPhone 4S, Apple Inc., Smart Phones, Sales Strategy, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Sales, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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Siri ported to the iPhone 3GS[Video]
brttyking 11th Nov
Hi,
You have create good information about Iphone4s. but this is basic information. Related Information: iPhone 3GS

http://applications.androidxiphone.com/siri-ported-iphone-3gsvideo/
View in thread
0 Votes
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The problem with most of these statements
toddybottom 1st Nov
You mean the same Siri that is crippled outside of the US because it won't search for businesses? The Siri that has trouble with accents?

I'm not going to get into a debate about how great Siri is. I don't have Siri since the iPhone 4S is not a good upgrade to happy iPhone 4 owners.

No, the problem with these statements is that they attempt to add correlation to events that aren't necessarily correlated. Will iPhone 4S be successful abroad? Possibly. Probably. Will it be because of Siri? Who knows? Unless you specifically find a statistic that shows these foreigners are buying iPhone 4S because of Siri, it is just as likely that we are seeing natural growth in the smartphone market just like we've seen every year for the last 12 years. Prove to me that the growth we will likely see abroad would not have happened if Siri had been missing from the iPhone 4S.
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
BillDem 1st Nov
@toddybottom I can confirm your suspicion that Siri is not the wonder-tool that the commercials make it out to be. In a room filled with computer fan noise, Siri makes me repeat what I said more than half the time, without an accent. I always have to speak at a significantly louder than conversational level. Worst of all, I find that I can add an appointment manually just as fast as I can using Siri. So, why sit in my office yelling at my phone when I can quietly accomplish the same task in the same amount of time? I can't imagine how useless Siri would be in a crowded, noisy room. I definitely CAN imagine how stupid you would look yelling at your phone in that same room, though.

Don't get me wrong. I think Siri is a cool technology for playing around when you're alone in a quiet environment. Demonstrating it might even sell a few just for the novelty of it. I just don't think it's reason enough to own an iPhone 4S on its own merits. The camera, on the other hand, is really good. That's the real reason I wanted the 4S. Siri is just a gimmick.
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
teetee1970 1st Nov
@BillDem You should try using the headset that comes with the phone. The microphone on it increases the quality of voice data passed thru noise cancellation. I've had people vacuuming and other loud background noise that was entirely removed thru the noise cancellation.
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
pupkin_z 1st Nov
@BillDem agreed 100%. Didn't we already went through 12 (or so) generations or Dragon speach recognition software before somebody (Microsoft?) bought them. As far as I am aware the speach recognition software does not work in ANY language, not just American English, not just with accents.

BTW, shouting at your phone is probably the best way to release stress (on par with kicking the dummy of your boss in a sound proof rooms that some of the Japanese companies set up for their employees)
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
Info-Dave 1st Nov
@pupkin_z, Apple licenses Dragon from Nuance, and I think it is IBM that bought Dragon/Nuance. Microsoft has Tellme.
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If you can add an appointment manually just as fast as with Siri, then you
DeRSSS Updated - 1st Nov
@BillDem: ... are certainly a wonder. Others measured that it takes about thrice time to make a reminder/appointment manually comparing to just telling it to Siri right away.

Also, iPhone 4S (as well as 4) has two microphones which work in noise cancelling scheme very well. No matter how noisy the surrounding is, that noise comes to both microphones with about equal wave strength, while your voice comes to one microphone dramatically stronger than to the other.

So I am not sure how persistent actual problems are for Siri to understand what are you saying.
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
JohnOfStony 2nd Nov
@BillDem who said "In a room filled with computer fan noise, Siri makes me repeat what I said more than half the time, without an accent."
I was highly amused by the "without an accent". There is no such thing; everybody has an accent relating to their region or country of birth. e.g. Even those in the UK who have no UK regional accent whould still be described as "having a British accent" by people in the USA. I've heard that the iPhone 4S deals with most accents but can't handle Glaswegian (the accent spoken by natives of Glasgow, Scotland). I've left behind the urge to buy every new gadget as soon as it comes on the market. I'm waiting for the iPhone 5 before buying my first smart phone and by then Siri may even be able to handle Glaswegian!
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
kksdhi 1st Nov
http://href.to/xEE
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Actually....
ShockMe 1st Nov
Siri is the first usable natural speech interface I have used that is worth using a second or third time. It needs more languages and more databases on the back end for wider adoption. But, even in its current state it is extremely useful.

I have lots of suggestions to make it better but the difference with Siri as a central feature incorporated into the OS is that I can see it actually coming to pass.

Hopefully Google's and Microsoft's own work in this area will improve as well to keep Apple on its toes.
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That is the one thing I find wrong with SIRI
rhonin 1st Nov
@ShockMe
In order to get a "fix" or an update / upgrade you have to upgrade or update the OS.

I would much rather update an app - easier and less intrusive.
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Not necessarily....
ShockMe 2nd Nov
@rhonin
One of the advantages to having so much of Siri in the cloud is that everyone is updated immediately without having to do anything at all.
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OS updates happen all the time
GoPower 2nd Nov
Ever use Windows? It's updating the OS almost weekly.
@rhonin
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
xeptf4 1st Nov
I don't think Siri would do well abroad, especially because of the accent issue.
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RE: Will Apple's Siri drive iPhone 4S sales abroad?
CyberGuerilla 1st Nov
I think Siri only works well for those who speak English, French or German as their first language. When it comes to foreign languages Google is actually light years ahead. I am posting this from the perspective of the Chinese

http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/10/05/china-iphone4s/

Note: one might be able to speak English well but it would be odd to people to use the Siri feature if English is not their mother tongue.
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About that headline!
AsifHussain1 1st Nov
Gee, Headline Writer, do you think the headline was totally clear the way it was worded?

Think about "drive sales abroad", as in "to force offshore".

Yes, it matters... Google use case.
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International?
croberts 2nd Nov
I Apple said it only works with Standard English (American) and Standard French (France).

Did the blogger even know this?
0 Votes
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Siri ported to the iPhone 3GS[Video]
brttyking 11th Nov
Hi,
You have create good information about Iphone4s. but this is basic information. Related Information: iPhone 3GS

http://applications.androidxiphone.com/siri-ported-iphone-3gsvideo/

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