Agreed. More broadly, I'd say that no one has made a good UI yet. The mac/lisa/star had a UI that people could learn. iOS...
In some ways a voice UI has bigger problems to deal with than PC GUIs or iOS. Those UIs were replacing pre-existing UIs (eg blackberry, dos, unix, norton) and they could target whatever tasks a smartphone/PC needed to do. For voice UIs, it's a cold start. It's not even obvious what an audio only computer should do. Our mental model for a "virtual assistant" is a person-2-person exchange, and computers still aren't great at communicating like people.
FWIW, I think slipping into existing niches is the way to go. That's where a useful voice ui will be discovered. Car stuff, accessibility software, living room controls.. At least these have clear goals. Voice operating spotify, netflix or just an iphone is something people actually need and will use if its useful.
In some ways a voice UI has bigger problems to deal with than PC GUIs or iOS. Those UIs were replacing pre-existing UIs (eg blackberry, dos, unix, norton) and they could target whatever tasks a smartphone/PC needed to do. For voice UIs, it's a cold start. It's not even obvious what an audio only computer should do. Our mental model for a "virtual assistant" is a person-2-person exchange, and computers still aren't great at communicating like people.
FWIW, I think slipping into existing niches is the way to go. That's where a useful voice ui will be discovered. Car stuff, accessibility software, living room controls.. At least these have clear goals. Voice operating spotify, netflix or just an iphone is something people actually need and will use if its useful.