Apple said Monday it was opening up its Siri digital assistant to
outside applications, stepping up its artificial intelligence efforts to
compete against rival services from Amazon,
Google and
Microsoft.
The
new feature will enable iPhone users to connect with non-Apple services
to send messages, make payments and search photos, for example.
"Now
you'll be able to tell Siri send a WeChat," said Apple vice president
Craig Federighi, referring to the Chinese messaging application.
Federighi said Siri will also work with apps like Slack, WhatsApp, Uber and Lyft, for example.
The
announcement at Apple's annual developer conference in San Francisco
marks a new approach for Apple, which has largely kept its services
self-contained on the iOS mobile operating system.
(Also see: Apple Watch Will Soon Track Fitness for Wheelchair Users)
The new feature will debut on the iOS10 operating system expected later this year.
Also opening to outside developers will be the Apple Maps application, which had a rocky debut marked by glitches in 2012.
This
will mean that iPhone users navigating with Apple Maps can, for
example, make a restaurant reservation using a third-party service such
as Open Table, said Apple vice president Eddy Cue.
The
announcements come with Apple aiming to move deeper into services amid
slowing sales of its profit-leading iPhone, and a weak tablet market
that has hurt sales of its iPad.
Apple also said it was bringing
Siri to its Mac computer system, allowing users of the PCs to search
their machines or the Internet with voice commands.
The moves
expand the footprint for Siri, which is facing increased competition
from Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa and Google Now, which also use artificial intelligence .
Separately, Apple said it was expanding
its Apple Pay system to the Web, allowing merchants to handle
transactions which can be authenticated on a user's iPhone or Apple
Watch.
Federighi said Apple Pay would be expanded "in the coming months" to more markets including Switzerland, France and Hong Kong.
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