Apple Promises to Make Siri More Friendly to Third Party Apps
Apple company plans to release a software update later this year that will help outside messaging applications work better with the Siri digital assistant.
Currently, when iPhone users ask Siri to call or message a friend, the system defaults to Apple’s Phone or iMessage apps. If you want to use WhatsApp or Skype, you have to specifically say that.
Following the softeare update, Siri will default to the apps that people use frequently to communicate with their contacts. For example, if an iPhone user always messages another person via WhatsApp, Siri will automatically launch WhatsApp, rather than iMessage. It will decide which service to use based on interactions with specific contacts. This functionality will be expanded later to phone apps for calls as well.
Apple is facing scrutiny over the power of its App Store and how the company both supports and competes against developers.
Apple claims that its own apps that are pre-installed on iPhones represent only 0.00002% of the roughly 2 million apps in the App Store. A recent feature that highlights interesting apps for consumers, called App Store Stories, has exclusively promoted Apple’s own software only 1% of the time, according to the company.
The company also said it gives developers access to hundreds of millions of consumers in 155 countries without the need to invest time and money to distribute their apps.