14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung recently filed a new trademark in South Korea, which is not something out of the ordinary for a company that has business in many technological industries. However, the trademark reveals some information on a possible digital assistant that Samsung plans to launch next year.
The name of the AI assistant, as mentioned in the trademark, is Bixby. According to the information filed, Bixby will be used for “computer software for personal information management,” “computer application software for smartphones, mobile phones, portable computers and tablet computers, namely, software used to operate voice recognition system.”
Furthermore, Samsung wants to use Bixby in “computer software for enabling hands-free use of a mobile phone through voice recognition,” which is one of the tasks that an intelligent assistant is capable of.
Before going into details, we need to offer you some background. Samsung recently acquired a company named Viv Labs. The people behind Viv Labs are the same that created Apple's Siri intelligent assistant, which suggests that Samsung is looking to bring a similar product to the market very soon.
The details mentioned in the recent trademark could be another piece of the puzzle that will most likely be revealed next year.
With the launch of the Galaxy S8 next year, Samsung expects to redeem itself in front of its most loyal customers, after the Galaxy Note 7 discontinuation. In order for that to happen, the Galaxy S8 should be a near-perfect device, but it should also come with some innovative features, not just gimmicks.
Bixby could be one of the new, innovative features that the Galaxy S8 might have to offer, if Samsung decides to launch its AI assistant in the first half of 2017.
Obviously, these are just assumptions based on the piece of information we got from different sources, but we'll most certainly know more in the next couple of months.