In 2007, Apple founder Steve Jobs told the world that his company’s phones would be controlled with “the best pointing device in the world … our fingers.”

Today, his company announced that users of the next iPhone, the 4S, will be able to use their voices to control it, too.

Holding down the “home” button on the new iPhone 4S, available in the U.S. starting on October 14, summons a “personal assistant” known as Siri that can understand commands given in English, French, or German. It responds in a conversational style in both text and synthesized speech.

Demonstrations on stage at the launch event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, saw Siri handling questions including, “What is the weather like today?” to which it responded by displaying and speaking a forecast for the owner’s current location. When the question was posed more conversationally, as “Do I need a raincoat today?” Siri responded in a similar manner: “It sure looks like rain today.” Read more