Perplexity is on iOS, but problems remain for AI search firm
The vendor faces many complex situations that might prevent users from setting it as their devices' default voice assistant. Users may instead move toward Siri.
AI search vendor Perplexity is spreading its reach in an attempt to gain more users of its popular search tool.
The 2022 startup introduced on Wednesday the Perplexity iOS Voice Assistant. The voice assistant uses web browsing and multi-app actions to book reservations, send emails and calendar invites, and play media from the app, Perplexity said in a post on X.
The vendor originally launched the Android app in January.
In addition to launching on the iPhone, Perplexity revealed Thursday that it has a new global partnership with Motorola and will be pre-installed on the newest Motorola devices. Users have direct access to the Perplexity assistant.
The iOS launch and the global partnership with Motorola show how the AI search vendor is widening its reach and acquiring more users. The AI vendor first came on the market as an alternative to Google search and gained traction from the start. However, while Perplexity has made small inroads on Google's search dominance, the likelihood of Perplexity taking a big chunk of Google's search market share is slim, industry observers say.
Challenges with widening reach
The same can be said about whether iOS users prefer Perplexity to Apple's voice-intelligent assistant, Siri.
The capabilities are limited relative to Siri.
Nikhil LaiAnalyst, Forrester Research
"The capabilities are limited relative to Siri," said Forrester Research analyst Nikhil Lai. He added that while Apple Intelligence-powered Siri has not been released yet, Perplexity can't do some of what Siri in its current form can do.
The Apple Intelligence-powered Siri is expected to be released in 2026.
However, a benefit of Perplexity on iOS is that it is available earlier than the upcoming Apple Intelligence-powered Siri.
Even if users are drawn to Perplexity for now, many iOS users will not use it as their default voice assistant, in the same way Google is not the default on iOS devices and Safari is, said David Nicholson, an analyst at The Futurum Group.
"I'll be one of the first people in line to download every update of whatever Perplexity can do for me on my Apple device, which happens to be what I use, but only, frankly, as a stopgap between now and whenever Apple gets its act together," Nicholson said. "I want all of that to be available appropriately and in a limited fashion, to whatever AI assistant or agent I will be deploying. Perplexity will not be able to do that because they don't own the platform like Apple does," Nicholson continued. "That's their challenge."
Lai said another challenge Perplexity faces is that while voice search is intriguing, it does not translate into broad business adoption.
"The queries won't be commercially valuable because people aren't shopping using these voice assistants," he said.
Moreover, Perplexity's business model is based on requiring user data to provide a personal search experience.
"You're going to have to put in Perplexity a ton of personally identifiable information to get personalized recommendations in exchange," Lai said. "Consumers are wary of giving up first-party data to publishers."
Despite these challenges, Perplexity is still a player in pushing tech giants like Google, Meta and Apple to keep advancing their technology, Nicholson said.
"I can see Perplexity forcing Google to step up its browser game and Apple to step up its chatbot game," he said. "I can see them forcing Meta's hand in advertising. But I can't see Perplexity supplanting any of those three platforms."
Esther Shittu is an Informa TechTarget news writer and podcast host covering AI software and systems.
