Apple WWDC 2016: More powerful Siri, Messages packs quite a punch

However, is this a reaction to Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant for Windows 10? Well, Tim Bajarin, president of research firm Creative Strategies, Inc thinks otherwise. “Apple has been doing AI and Voice for 25 years. It was the other companies who were reactionary,” he told IndianExpress.com.

Interestingly, Siri has also been opened up for third party app developers with iOS 10, giving the virtual assistant the ability pull up information from compatible apps while using its intelligence to make restaurant bookings or Uber rides. Plus, learning from Siri will add a layer of intelligence to messaging, which will now preload intelligent responses as messages come in.

Developers will also be able to create apps for iMessage as Apple put a lot of focus on adding new features into its messaging service. Though the most used app on iOS, Messages have not seen a lot of excitement since the introduction of emojis. But if CEO Tim Cook called this the biggest update on iOS, it was also because Apple had packed so much just into the Messages app from making emojis larger to text bigger and louder and adding a distinct character to the entire app and your messages in process.

By adding so many new features to Messages, Apple seems to be trying to take on the ever-increasing cloud of OTT messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. Bajarin agrees to a certain extent, while adding that the goal seems to be to make “iMessage the  best meeting platform on the market”.

Bajarin says being able to understand questions in context and respond in context is a big improvement and will help make Siri much more indispensable for users. “Also the advance they showed in iMessage including money exchanges and the new emoji’s and stickers will make it a more useful app.”

At a time when a lot of other tech giants in Silicon Valley are investing their energy on creating and improving bots, Apple seems to be banking on Siri to add a smart layer on its devices. However, opening up Siri to third-party developers could see both these worlds colliding. “In general voice assistants are very useful, but as a bot it can be tagged to dedicated apps and services,” explains Bajarin.

Ordering deconstructed samosa using the Messages app.

India at WWDC

There was quite a bit of India at the WWDC keynote from Priyanka Chopra featuring on the homescreen of the redesigned Apple Music app to Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP Software Engineering (macOS, iOS 10), trying to order a deconstructed samosa from a Indian food cart using the revamped messaging app. Indian food ordering app Zomato found a mention when new features in Maps where being shown. However, there was more for the Chinese audience, as it is still a much bigger market for Apple.

Disclaimer: The writer is in San Francisco on the invite of Apple, which is paying for travel and accomodation.

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