Apple’s Siri digital assistant has long ruled its realm in terms of popularity and continues to do so – for now. However, that might change, at least according to one firm’s analysis of its recent survey. Facebook M appears to be highly anticipated, and researchers believe it might overtake Siri even though right now it is still in limited beta.
Interesting and unexpected tech trends
Also Microsoft may finally have a browser that can compete with Google’s Chrome browser, smartwatches are growing in popularity, and we’re starting to see signs of the rise of the Internet of Things.
Adobe released the latest edition of its Digital Trends Digital Index Report and survey this week. The survey is based on 22 billion visits to branded websites and more than 20 million posts across Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. The firm also included data from 400 consumers in the U.S. who have either a tablet or smartphone.
Siri currently rules the digital assistant roost
The reason Adobe researchers believe Facebook M will overtake Apple’s Siri in digital assistants is because it is currently receiving four times more social buzz than any of the others currently on the market. In addition to Siri, Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana are also available. According to Adobe researchers, one-third of consumers have used a digital assistant within the last 30 days
For now though, Siri still takes the crown in digital assistants, as it was the most likely to be used over the last 30 days and consumers ranked it number one for its ability to give them the information they need when they need it. Siri averaged more than 30,000 social media mentions per day, making it six times more popular than Cortana and Google Now.
Facebook M to shake up the digital assistant market?
Facebook M receive 20% of the social media mentions in terms of anticipation, which is significantly larger than the other digital assistants:
However, it seems hardly fair to say that Facebook M will take over and become the most popular assistant from this survey because Facebook’s digital assistant is still in limited beta, while the others are already available. Clearly people are going to be anticipating Facebook’s digital assistant the most because it’s not out yet. There’s no need to anticipate digital assistants that are currently available.
Only after Facebook M has been available for a while will we see how it will fare against Siri and the others. It will depend entirely on how well it works compared to the others.
Interestingly, despite Siri’s dominance and Facebook M’s supposed future dominance, consumers admire Amazon Echo significantly more than they do Siri. Of course admiration for Facebook M remains low because of its limited release at this time, although even 18% seems like quite a feat in light of this.
IoT devices rise in popularity
Adobe also found that consumers are rapidly adopting connected devices. Smart smoke detectors are the most popular among smartphone users, and Google’s On Hub is the most popular device according to mentions on social media. Sixty-seven percent of men and 58% of women are interested in the Internet of Things, and 65% of IoT device mentions are related to joy, admiration or anticipation.
Apple Watch gives smartwatches a boost
The firm also discovered that smartwatches are beginning to pick up in popularity, and it seems like Apple Watch may be calling attention to the tech category. Adobe’s survey indicated that 37% of consumers plan to purchase a smartwatch in the next six months. The Apple Watch dominates in social media mentions, ownership and purchase intent. More than 4 million social media posts mentioned the Apple Watch:
Researchers also found that 14% of consumers are purchasing a smartwatch as a gift this holiday shopping season, while 61% of those who are likely to buy a smartwatch are planning to purchase an Apple Watch.
Consumers starting to use Microsoft’s browser
Adobe also learned that Microsoft’s much-maligned Internet Explorer is swiftly becoming a thing of the past as consumer sentiment Microsoft’s browsers has improved significantly thanks to the new Edge browser. The firm reports that the Edge browser has improved the sentiment of the software giant’s browsers by a remarkable 75%.
However, Microsoft still has a ways to go in terms of usage as Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari still take two-thirds of browser visits, while Edge holds only a 1.4% share of the market.
Edge does currently holds the highest adoption rate in more technology-related categories, however, and researchers believe it will continue to gain in popularity as more corporations push out Edge to their employees. However, as people are typically creatures of habit, Microsoft does face an uphill battle here.
All graphs in this article are courtesy Adobe.
