By Daisuke Wakabayashi And Alistair Barr
Apple Inc. and Google Inc. are racing to anticipate the needs of
their users.
The technology giants, whose software runs nearly all of the
world's smartphones, are adding features to deliver information
before users ask for it. Their moves suggest that smartphones will
evolve into devices that dispense information unprompted.
The companies are tackling the technology differently,
reflecting their own expertise and priorities. Apple's Proactive
Assistant, a feature of its forthcoming iOS 9 software, aims to
learn how a user will behave from information stored on an iPhone.
By contrast, Google Now combs data from a universe of online
services and searches.
"This is a major battleground. The companies are using this to
highlight their strengths," said Rich Mogull, the chief executive
of the research and advisory firm Securosis.
Both companies hope the new features, some of which are expected
this fall, will keep their users loyal and lock them into related
services that make money. For Apple, that means more returning
customers for its iPhones. For Google, it means more engaged users
for its advertisers.
In addition, the ability to anticipate what users want and
deliver it at the right moment will be crucial for such future
devices as smart watches and connected automobiles.
The efforts by Google and Apple are part of a growing wave of
"digital assistants" in the technology industry aimed at providing
a helping hand for devices. Microsoft Corp. is putting "Cortana," a
personal-assistant service, in all devices running Windows
software. Amazon.com Inc.'s virtual assistant is Alexa, who
currently exists inside the company's Echo speaker.
At its developers' conference in May, Google demonstrated how
Google Now can alert a traveler to airport gas stations when the
traveler is returning a vehicle and may need to fill the tank.
Google can deduce the return time from emails showing the
traveler's itinerary and real-time departure data provided by
airlines.
For other uses, Google Now, introduced in 2012, taps Web search
and browsing history, Google services such as Gmail, calendar and
YouTube, and data from the phone such as location, time and app
use. The company says it wants as much information as possible to
produce the most useful recommendations.
"Imagine an assistant who works for you for [only] one hour a
day," says Aparna Chennapragada, director of product and
engineering for Google Now. "I want my assistant proactively
working for me all the time."
Apple takes a more conservative approach, limiting itself to
information gathered on the phone. The company says the iPhone
knows which apps you use, when you use them and for how long. It
also knows where you are and with whom you communicate regularly.
It has access to some emails, but it taps them sparingly, Apple
says, using them to identify callers or create calendar events, for
example.
As a result, Apple can't replicate some of what Google Now does.
Its upcoming iPhone software will have a feature called Siri
Spotlight that suggests people to contact based on future meetings
or nearby businesses. It will also find gas stations once you're
near the rental-car office, but it won't send the information
proactively.
So far, Apple has provided one example of when it would seek
information beyond the phone: tapping real-time traffic data to
suggest when to leave for an upcoming appointment in the phone's
calendar.
Apple's approach is focused on learning regular activities. If
you listen to music in the morning while working out, for example,
the phone will begin playing your workout music when you plug in
your headphones in the morning. Apple hasn't elaborated on its
plans for Proactive Assistant since its announcement last
month.
Apple also distinguishes between what its devices know and what
it as a company knows. Apple says its device knows a lot about you,
but that information is tethered to the phone and isn't collected
by the company.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has been critical of companies
such as Google that he says are profiting by selling data on users
to advertisers.
Google says it doesn't sell or share user data with other
companies but uses its information to target ads.
Jamie Davidson, a partner at Redpoint Ventures and a former
Google engineer, says Google's willingness to tap a broader swath
of data gives the company a leg up. "It will be harder for Apple to
create a compelling experience without getting more information
from the broader Web beyond the phones," he says.
One app developer who works with Google says the utility of
Google Now will vary depending on how much information a user
shares. Those who share more will get more relevant suggestions,
the developer says. But that benefit must be weighed against the
privacy implications of sharing so much personal information with
the company.
Dylan Russell, a 23-year-old media-studies student at
Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla., says he
regularly uses Google Now on his Motorola Moto X phone, and he
isn't worried about compromising his privacy.
"I think it's something that people are going to get over," Mr.
Russell says. "It's not a bad thing for Google to know me better to
help me better."
On a recent Friday night, Mr. Russell saw that Google Now had
displayed information about local restaurants and movies playing in
a nearby theater. In another instance, his boss sent him an email
reminding him to make a spreadsheet for a project, and Google Now
created a reminder for him.
"I thought it was super awesome. I didn't click any buttons,"
says Mr. Russell. "They're becoming more like a real personal
assistant, knowing you, knowing what you like to do, and knowing
when you like to do it."
Later this year, Google plans to introduce Google Now on Tap,
which will use text and image recognition to understand what users
are doing inside apps and make suggestions. It won't send
information proactively, but it could anticipate the next steps a
user may want to take.
For example, when a friend suggests in a text message eating
dinner at a specific restaurant, Google Now can bring up an
information card with the restaurant's Yelp reviews, phone number,
schedule and a map, as well as a link to a booking app like
OpenTable to help secure a table.
Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com and
Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com
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