Apple To Open Siri To Developers & Develop Amazon Echo Rival [Rumor]

For the longest time ever, Apple has kept Siri to itself and not opened it up to developers. However a report from The Information (paywall; via Mobile Syrup) has suggested that could change soon, and that by opening up Siri to developers, Apple could also be looking to dive into the creation of their own Amazon Echo rival.

In case you’re unfamiliar, the Amazon Echo is a speaker with a built-in voice assistant that users can ask it to do all kinds of tasks. What might have seemed like a novelty was replaced by surprising popularity as the Echo went on to do really well for itself. It even prompted Google to respond in kind with the Google Home.

The report from The Information has revealed that Apple’s own hardware will be similar to that of the Echo and Google Home in which it will come with a speaker and a microphone, and basic functions like controlling music playback, receiving news headlines, setting timers, and more will be part of it at launch.

We suppose this actually makes sense given that Apple has clearly demonstrated an interest in creating smarter homes with the launch of HomeKit. WWDC is expected to be taking place in the coming weeks so we guess if there was ever a good time to announce a Siri SDK, it would be then. No word on whether the hardware will be announced then too, but check back with us for more updates.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Rumors
Tags: Amazon, echo, Siri