Google is Working Around the Clock on Siri Rival Codenamed Majel

Google is reportedly working around the clock on a rival to Siri which is codenamed Majel, reports Android and Me. The name Majel comes from Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who was the voice of the Federation Computer from Star Trek.

Google's Matias Duarte reveals to SlashGear that their approach to a voice assistant will be more like Star Trek than Star Wars.


The metaphor I like to take is – if it's Star Wars, you have these robot personalities like C-3PO who runs around and he tries to do stuff for you, messes up and makes jokes, he's kind of a comic relief guy. Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It's not that there's a personality, it doesn't have a name, it's just "Computer." And you can talk to it and you can touch it, you can interact with it at the same time as you talk with it. It's just another way to interface with the computer.

Google was reportedly trying to have an initial release of Majel ready by this year; however, early next year may be a more likely time frame.

[via MacRumors]