Google on Tuesday announced the launch of a new Google Search app specifically for Apple mobile devices: the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
The app allows users to speak search queries into their Apple devices and have Google automatically pull up relevant results, putting it in direct competition with Apple’s own onboard voice-activated assistant on the iPhone and iPad, Siri.
As Google search engineer Kenneth Bongort wrote of one example in a company blog post: “‘What does Yankee Stadium look like?’ Google will show you hundreds of pictures instantly.”
Google’s own built-in voice search was previously available for Android devices, where it was lauded by tech bloggers as faster, more accurate and generally superior to Apple’s Siri.
More worrisome for Apple, Google’s new voice search option also works on Apple devices running iOS 4.3 or later versions, while Siri only works on iOS 5.0 and above (unless hacked), leaving out the iPhone 3GS.
Here’s a screenshot of the new app, via Google:
And here’s a new video ad of the app Google posted Tuesday on YouTube:
