Stewart Alsop, veteran venture capitalist, ex-tech journalist, and Apple watcher, says that Apple is developing a smart search architecture and is embedding its newly acquired Siri technology into all its devices and content.

Siri was purchased by Apple in April.  TechCrunch speculates that Apple paid $200 million for it.

Not exactly a "search" engine, Siri has been characterized as an "intelligent agent" that produces results without a query. 

Alsop expects that the next product from Apple will be television. 

We spoke with him at the All Things Digital conference.  During his on-stage chat, Apple CEO Steve Jobs denied that Apple was creating a search engine.

On his own iPad, Alsop says the device is a "full function product for a kid," not for an adult.

Update:  Here's the take on Siri and Apple by Jemima Kiss at The Guardian.

Andy Plesser, Managing Editor