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Buried in Bloomberg’s report Friday morning about Apple moving ahead with its Amazon Echo competitor is a far more interesting nugget: Apple believes it’s just three years away from a fully voice-controlled iPhone, according to an unnamed source.
From Bloomberg:
Beyond the home device, Apple is researching new ways to improve Siri on iPhones and iPads, two people said. With an initiative code-named “Invisible Hand,” Apple hopes to give users the ability to fully control their devices through a Siri command system within three years, one of the people added. Currently, the voice assistant is able to respond to commands within its application, but Apple’s goal is for Siri to be able to control the entire system without having to open an app or reactivate Siri.
A few thoughts on that…
Clearly Apple’s convinced that voice control is the future—along with Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others, all of whom are investing heavily in the area. Given the surprise success of the Echo, maybe they’re on to something.
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