Steve Jobs Would Have ?Lost His Mind? Over Siri, Former Employee Says

Siri?s had a rough ride since its launch with the iPhone 4S in October.

When the phone launched, the 4S was universally deemed the best iPhone yet, and Siri one of its shining features. Hackers even jumped on the chance to bend Siri to their will. But since then, Siri excitement has waned, and disappointed fans have taken to the courts to vent their spleen against her creator.

And now it looks like Apple employees are also upset that Siri hasn?t yet matured into the digital assistant of our dreams. ?People are embarrassed by Siri,? a former Apple employee told Fortune. ?Steve would have lost his mind over Siri.?

How Jobs would have reacted to Siri complaints and its evolution, only those closest to the former Apple CEO could know. But is the general anti-Siri sentiment justified?

?Siri is a useful service if you form your queries correctly and understand what the service can do. But many people expect Siri to be more robust than it is,? Gartner analyst Brian Blau told Wired via e-mail. ?So for these types of voice services, there really needs to be some education on the part of the consumer.?

But if the consumer?s education is limited to the star-studded Siri advertisements they see on TV, their disappointment may be deserved. Case in point: A number of people hit Apple with class-action lawsuit that argues Siri doesn?t actually perform like it does in Apple TV spots. ?Many times advertisements are aspirational and their goal is to lead to customer engagement,? Blau said. ?But maybe Apple missed the mark with this one.?

Apple lawyers have since filed to dismiss the suit, saying the plaintiffs? complaints were incomplete, vague, and ?highly individualized.?

Also, it?s important to note that Siri is still a beta product, ?so clearly there?s going to be some user experiences that differ,? Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told Wired via email.

Nonetheless, Siri has been around for well over six months now, and we haven?t seen any major updates to either its performance or capabilities. For a product in beta, you?d expect at least occasional tweaks and additions. And Siri didn?t even make it onto the third-generation iPad (but there are plenty of good reasons why it would be challenging or impractical to bring the feature to non-phone devices).

Blau and Gartenberg both expect Apple to continue to improve Siri through future updates, as Apple seems very committed to the feature. But will we not see any improvements until iOS 6? ?I think Apple is holding off for iOS 6,? web developer and Siri hacker Pete Lamonica told Wired. ?They?re not really the type to introduce new functionality between major OS releases, even when they could (like with Siri).?

Competitors like Samsung are starting to emulate Apple?s voice-powered assistant, and if Apple doesn?t push out some killer updates soon, Siri could lose its sparkle.

I don?t know if Jobs would have ?lost his mind? over Siri, but I can?t imagine he?d be peachy with the state she?s in now.

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