Google to Bring Digital Assistant To Third-party Hardware, Including the iPhone
Google plans to expand its voice-based assistant beyond its own hardware, including Apple's iPhones, coffee tables and kitchens - at this week's I/O conference.
A version of the AI-powered Google Assistant for Apple's iPhone will be officially unveiled on Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg report. Google's voice-based Assistant competes with Apple's Siri and Amazon.com's Alexa. It is set to land on the iPhone as a free, standalone app that can be downloaded from Apple's App Store,. It would arrive first in the U.S., but Google is working on adding support for other countries in the future.
The iPhone version of the Google Assistant will take commands via voice aand will integrate with other Google apps on the iPhone so a user could ask to see a video and it will begin playing via YouTube.
Google's AI will show up in other new products this week. The company's popular Photos app will be upgraded with a feature for creating physical coffee table photo books.
Users will be able to order physical books of pictures from the Photos app to be shipped to their homes. Google plans to offer multiple types of book materials for the service, with one option costing $10 per book, Bloomberg's unnamed sources added.
Google is also integrating its Assistant into GE home appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.