14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is making new inroads into the wearable computers of tomorrow by planning to equip its rumored iWatch with an enhanced version of Siri, the voice-powered personal assistant pioneered in the iPhone 4S.
A report from the subscription-based The Information (known to have some solid ties to the IT industry through an ex Wall Street journalist) says Apple is working on improving Siri’s abilities to connect users to various services, such as book a car rental, use a third-party app to call or text someone, make a hotel reservation, etc.
The functionality could be prepared not only for iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 (which is pretty much a given), but also for the iWatch. In fact, considering this following tidbit from the same publication, it all looks like a big effort to make the iWatch as usable as possible.
One of the Siri improvements Apple is working on would reportedly enable the device (be it iWatch, iPhone, iPod, etc.) to intelligently deploy apps based on the user’s activities.
The iWatch would theoretically be able to display a running app automatically when it senses the user has started jogging, reports TechCrunch. This is just one example, and the possibilities are endless.
Siri is a flagship feature of the iOS operating system that will power the iWatch in a reduced form, pundits say. Apple is also said to be working on a Healthbook app that keeps track of the user’s blood pressure, hydration levels, sleep patterns, etc., all through sensors tightly fitted inside the watch.
Healthbook will reportedly be present in both iOS 8 on iPhones and in the stripped-down iOS running on the iWatch, communicating with each other.
“The new health and fitness application’s interface is a stack of cards that can be easily swiped between. Each card represents a different fitness or health data point. The prototype logo for ‘Healthbook’ is similar to Passbook’s icon, but it is adorned with graphics representing vital signs,” wrote the people who leaked the information in January.
iWatch could be unveiled as soon as June or July, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. An annual affair, WWDC has been the launch pad of several revolutionary Apple products, including the iPad in 2010. For this year’s edition, everyone has their fingers crossed for something other than iPhone 6.