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Apple Working to Expand Siri's Third-Party App Integration for iWatch

Wednesday March 5, 2014 7:02 am PST by Eric Slivka
siri_ios_7_iconAs Apple continues work on its much-rumored iWatch, the company is placing a significant focus on expanding Siri's ability to interface with third-party apps, according to a report from The Information summarized by TechCrunch.

With input methods for the iWatch limited due to the device's size, Siri's voice capabilities may be one of the best tools for Apple to leverage, and that means improving Siri's capabilities.
The report points out how the Siri of today can’t do things like book a car rental or make a hotel reservation, or use a messaging app other than Messages to send a text. The improvements to Siri would potentially enable those types of things, enabling third-party integrations that don’t require one-to-one business arrangement between Apple and the external company. Current integrations like those with OpenTable and Wolfram Alpha do involve those direct deals, which limits the pace at which new third-party powers can be added to Siri.
The report also claims that Apple is working on technology to dynamically adjust what content is being shown on a device's display, offering the example of a running app automatically being shown when the user begins jogging. The technology would obviously be useful for a device such as the iWatch with very limited display size and input capabilities.

Apple has been rumored for several years to be working on a smart watch project, with the company reportedly placing a strong focus on biometrics to include health-related data tracking for the iOS ecosystem.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5
Tag: theinformation.com
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
[ 68 comments ]


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Sky Blue
67 months ago
wouldn't trust Siri to book a hotel room.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Radio
67 months ago
Siri offers nothing but frustration in real world usage.

Any noise around you confuses it.

Google voice has been so far much better at understanding the human language.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Taz Mangus
67 months ago

Please bring on more languages before doing that POS watch.


Please do tell your vast experience with this yet to be released product.
Rating: 4 Votes
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PrismaticRealms
67 months ago
I haven't worn a watch in about 20 years or so! But I may just get myself a new one on <some rumored released date>. :)
Rating: 3 Votes
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ayale99
67 months ago
Siri support for Nest & Hue would be very welcome!
Rating: 3 Votes
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terrywfoster
67 months ago
Too bad Siri sucks.
Rating: 3 Votes
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dannyyankou
67 months ago

Please bring on more languages before doing that POS watch.


What makes it a POS? I'm curious for you to share your knowledge about it's features and design. :rolleyes:
Rating: 3 Votes
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vpndev
67 months ago
better

That looks just like a Galaxy Gear. :D


I disagree. To me it looks quite a lot better.

It's clear that Samsung didn't copy this !
Rating: 2 Votes
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IJ Reilly
67 months ago

They will release a SmartWatch.


Fortunately Apple has more imagination than most of the people on these boards.
Rating: 2 Votes
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IJ Reilly
67 months ago

The millions being sold clearly support your statements.


Where's the support for your statement that millions are being sold? Pebble had sold 190,000 watches as of the end of last year, nearly half to Kickstarter supporters. That's pretty good for a startup, but not millions. I suppose people are really lining up for the Galaxy Gear, though. Samsung claims to have shipped hundreds of thousands, but isn't talking about how many they've actually sold. In any case, a million or two worldwide, even if accurate, is not a big number, especially when you consider that Apple has already sold over 800 million mobile devices.

The point being, Apple is not going to chase this or any other product category. Apple being Apple, they will come up with something that will make everyone wonder why they thought it was going to be just an Apple version of something we've already seen. Why anyone who follows Apple even casually would predict that, I have no idea.
Rating: 2 Votes

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