From the iPhone to iPad to Apple TV, Apple is going all-in with Siri. Apple is empowering its personal assistant, beefing up its capabilities in iOS 9 and today during its iPhone Event, it made Siri the centerpiece of its brand new Apple TV, and its main input device.
The new Apple TV comes with universal voice search, powered by Siri. iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime — it can all be searched by just saying the name of a movie, director, or actor. The new remote comes with a built-in Siri button, which you can use to say things like "what did they say?" which will rewind back 15 seconds on the video you're currently watching. Voice search looks to be the main way to navigate Apple's newest set-top box, which other set-top makers like Amazon, Roku, and even Comcast are also doing.
Siri also received a huge upgrade in iOS 9, gaining the ability to look deeper within apps, analyzing your calendar email, and contacts, and figuring out which apps you use the most — and at what time — to provide you proactive recommendations. And on the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, Siri is always on, ready to work for you anytime you say "Hey Siri." (On current iOS devices, Hey Siri only works when the device is plugged in to a charger.)
The dramatic improvements to Siri are a direct and long-awaited strike at Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana, which have become core parts of their respective company's consumer product lines. Once an afterthought for most iOS users, Apple is hellbent on making Siri essential to the core of its main products, both present and future. Siri may have been lagging behind its competitors, but Apple is pushing to catch up rapidly, and the new Apple TV is its biggest leap yet.