You’d think the smart people at Apple might check for this kind of thing in advance, but alas. Japan’s giggling in the wake of iPhone 4S’ birth, as voice control wizard Siri sounds a lot like shiri — arse. Oops!
The WSJ’s Yoree Koh reports the confusion is so bad that Google Japan actually asks users if they’r searching for 尻 (shiri) when they enter Siri. While I’m sure a lot of Japanese browsers are in fact looking for arse online, most of them are just trying to get the scoop on the new iPhone. Not that Siri will support Japanese in the first place.
One (poorly Google-translated) Japanese tweet really says it all: “iPhone devices can talk and magical arse.”
We should have just skipped the liveblog and posted that. [WSJ via TNW]