The company's data stockpile and investment in AI means a smartphone helper that answers queries before you even ask them.
iri, the virtual assistant built into iPhones, launched to great fanfare last October and soon inspired a crowd of copycat apps, heated online arguments about its effectiveness, and an Apple ad campaign in which it played the starring role. It also inspired speculation that Google's ad revenue was in jeopardy (see "Does Apple's Siri Threaten Google's Search Monopoly?") and that the search and ads company would be forced to invent its own personal assistant.
Almost a year later, Google's vision of how a smartphone can become a trusted, all-knowing assistant is rolling out to consumers in the form of Google Now. It's a feature of the newest iteration of Android, Jelly Bean, which is so far available on only a handful of smartphones, and suggests that Google has ambitions to go well beyond what Siri has shown so far.
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