Siri apparently won't come to older iPhones

As it is I can't even use Siri around rush hour without constant "can't connect to the service" errors. Any time other than the rush hours I have no problems. The worst part is I can't even make voice calls and tell it to play playlists like I could with the old iphone4. I think Apple is just getting swamped. At the same time there really isn't much to set the 4 and 4s apart other than a better camera and a faster processor which we likely won't see a true benefit from anytime real soon.

Will the wishful thinking never end? Technically it may be possible to run Siri on older hardware. But what's in it for Apple? Siri does not make Apple money. Siri COSTS Apple money. They have to run that giant data center. They have to pay Wolfram Alpha. And they are OK with that because Siri sells new phones. Apple wants to sell you a 4S. and a 5. And a 5S. The fact that you want it backported all the way down to the iPod Shuffle is not in the least interesting to Apple. There's no percentage in it for them.

Apple did the same thing with the battery percentage indicator on the 3GS. While you could jailbreak your 3G and get it on there, it was never officially introduced on older devices.

I expect the same to happen here; don't hold your breath.

And then there's this...

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 4:03 PM
iPhone 4S has a Siri-specific proximity sensor.
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Chris Rawson

"First and foremost, there's no technological reason why Siri won't work on older handsets. The iOS hacking community has managed to get Siri running..."

Define running? How well? What's its success and error rate compared to the 4S? How fast does it handle requests out in the field, again as compared to the 4S?

Until you can answer those questions, I'm not sure you can categorically state that there's no technological reason why Siri won't work on older handsets. Especially since the developers of the original Siri app stated that they were forced to make compromises in order to get Siri running on earlier hardware.

I might be wrong, but I can't think of one time that Apple launched an iPhone with a new feature that was later added to older hardware, whether the hardware could handle it or not. And other than wishful thinking, I see nothing in your article that makes me think Apple has any plans at all to add Siri to the iPhone 4 or 3GS.

Video recording was "technologically" possible on the iPhone 3G (maybe the orig. too, I don't recall) as evidenced by jailbreakers writing apps that recorded video. But the performance was crap. This is most likely why Apple didn't allow it in software even if it was possible on pre-3GS hardware.

Apple's very few statements plus precedent seem pretty clear to me. If you are waiting for Siri to come to your pre-4S iPhone, I wouldn't hold your breath, regardless of what baseless speculation you may read here or elsewhere.

Interesting article... but the title seems to be in direct conflict with the point of the text.

Of course it won't be coming, I don't know how anyone would expect it to. This is a marquee feature of the 4S, obviously it's a selling point. The only slight chance that it may come to older phones is much later in the life of the 4S, certainly not now and especially not when it's in beta form.