The Apple Store is seen in Santa Monica, California, United States, February 23, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS
Apple under pressure to dazzle as market slows
Apple made the change in an update to the company's executive biography pages. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the change to Reuters but did not comment beyond the changes. Cue, a senior vice president, had overseen Siri since 2012 when Scott Forestall, Apple's software chief at the time, was fired by CEO Tim Cook.
Cue is primarily known as Apple's chief content dealmaker, negotiating the company's pivotal deals with record companies during the iTunes era and more recently its Apple Music streaming deals and its television content efforts. But Cue also runs Apple's internet-based services such as iCloud.
In recent years, though, Apple has embedded its voice assistant more deeply into its iOS and macOS operating systems, letting it control things like adding calendar appointments, and expanded it from phones to laptops. Siri now controls third-party apps to do things like summon a ride or book a table.
Federighi, a senior vice president, oversees those operating systems. The shift in Siri's leadership comes as Apple faces increased competition to get users speaking to its devices. Though Apple was the first major tech company to release a voice assistant in 2011, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and Google's voice assistant have emerged to jostle for consumers attention.
Apple axes iPod nano and shuffle
Amazon and Google have both released voice-activated speakers to showcase their assistants. Amazon has even started selling Echo devices, which feature Alexa, in some of its 470 Whole Foods retail stores. This holiday season, Apple's will jump into the fray and compete against those speakers with its forthcoming HomePod, which will feature Siri.
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