Apple and Verizon: Many people rely on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Siri to provide them with fast, accurate information. But did you know that the tech giant almost missed out on a deal to purchase Siri? Even more interesting is this: Verizon was the company that was going to make a deal for the voice-controlled technology.
For more information on the history of Siri, take a closer look at this historical breakdown from the Huffington Post. In the article, author Bianca Bosker talks about the deal with Verizon that almost went through.
“Verizon thought so, too. In the fall of 2009, several months before Apple approached Siri, Verizon had signed a deal with the startup to make Siri a default app on all Android phones set to launch in the new year. When Apple swooped in to buy Siri, it insisted on making the assistant exclusive to Apple devices, and nixed the Verizon deal. In the process, it narrowly avoided seeing Siri become a selling point for smartphones powered by its biggest rival, Google. (Somewhere in the vaults of the wireless giant, there are unreleased commercials touting Siri as an Android add-on.)”
This is quite interesting. Not only was Verizon going to purchase Siri, but it was going to be made the default app on all Android phones. Imagine that. We could be sitting here today with one of Apples’s biggest competitors taking full advantage of the voice controlled assistant. Can you imagine how much different the smartphone space would be?
Fortunately for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) the company was able to swoop in, steal the deal from Verizon and use Siri exclusively on the iPhone. Once again, a brilliant move by the tech giant.
AppleInsider added some more information to the story:
“Siri exclusivity on Verizon and Android was apparently so close to becoming a reality that there are unreleased commercials made by the carrier that show off Siri as an Android feature.”
“Siri eventually debuted in late 2011 as a built-in feature on the iPhone 4S. Apple’s purchase of Siri first became known publicly in April of 2010.”
“While Siri started out as an iPhone-exclusive feature, it has since expanded to the iPad and iPod touch. The voice-controlled assistant offers information such as weather, dictation, sports scores, calendar entries and more.”
What would the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone be today if the company had missed out on the Siri deal? Can you picture all those Siri commercials featuring an Android device? It may be hard to imagine right now, but a few years ago this was close to being reality.
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DISCLOSURE: I have no positions in any stock mentioned.
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