According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is stepping up efforts to develop a virtual assistant as an alternative to Apple’s Siri.

Samsung already introduced a similar service on their flagship Galaxy SIII phone and Google’s effort is said to be codenamed Majel. Many believe Google will show off the service at the upcoming Google I/O event, along with the new Nexus tablet and Android 4.1, but we wouldn’t hold our breath. If Google is “speeding up” development, this implies Majel is still not ready for prime time, and I/O is just days away.

However, speaking from our experience, quite a few consumers still see voice controlled virtual assistants as a rather pointless distraction. And then there are those who just believe it is wrong to talk to your phone while walking down the street. Call us old fashioned, but we tend to agree.

More here.