Siri coming to older iOS devices? Apple gives a big thumbs down

Well, we can add that to the virtually infinite list of squashed Apple rumors. Siri will not be coming to the iPhone 4, iPad 2, or any iOS devices older than the iPhone 4S. Apple shot down that rumor today in an email to one hopeful iOS user who suggested Apple charge a fee of $19.99 for iPad and previous-generation iPhone users longing to hear Siri’s voice:

“iPhone 4 Users and iPod touch 4th generation users pay a fee of 19.99 to upgrade to a ‘special’ build of iOS 5.0.1 with Siri Final in it, (To avoid hackers hacking Siri onto non 4S devices illegally) **Many iPhone 4 Users and iPod touch 4th generation Users will pay for this special iOS build (5.0.1) which will enable Siri for a fee of $19.99 US dollars”

Apple responded shortly after with brevity:

“Engineering has provided the following feedback regarding this issue: Siri only works on iPhone 4S and we currently have no plans to support older devices.”

Siri’s exclusivity to the iPhone 4S has left a lot of people confused. Most people just assumed it was to accommodate hardware requirements, but in that case, why wouldn’t Apple have released it for iPad 2 since it runs on the same dual-core A5 chip? The next assumption was to reduce the strain on Apple’s servers by limiting Siri-capable devices. This is certainly plausible given the recent outage. Regardless of reason, it appears Apple has silenced Siri for older device owners. For now.

[via Michael Steeber]