Category: Apps

BlackbBerry announces its first digital assistant.

The wireless and telecommunication equipment company has unveiled its new mobile technology, Blackberry Assistant, which is its first digital assistant designed to carry out tasks through voice command and the feature could be new competition for Microsoft’s Cortana, Google Now and Apple’s Siri.

The voice-activated personal digital assistant will allow users to perform daily tasks with ease.

Blackberry’s assistant has been developed to perform simple tasks. For instance, it can complete an email search, discover the latest trends on Twitter, send texts and set reminders. In addition it has been designed to adapt to the behavior of the user. Its Bluetooth capabilities enable users to activate and use it without them having to touch it. According to BlackBerry, its assistant recognizes user’s requests with accuracy.

In a blog post, Donni Halliwell, a social media marketing lead and editor for the official Inside BlackBerry blogs, provided details about the many capabilities the assistant will include. Halliwell said that “It is voice activated when I need it to be, and helps manage simple tasks on my device from searching my email and calendar, finding out what’s trending on Twitter, to sending trivia night invitations.” He added that the more he uses it, “the more it learns and adapts” to him and that the more he speaks with it, the “more tuned-in” it becomes to his queries.

Although Halliwell described the mobile technology to be “hands-free” it is unknown whether it can be activated exclusively through voice prompt, as is the case with certain Android smartphones. However, it will work though Bluetooth. That said, just like other digital assistants, users can directly type their requests into the app, if this is their preference.

The mobile technology will be part of the BlackBerry Passport.

Despite the mobile technology appearing to be a step in the right direction for the company, the digital assistant does seem to lack certain capabilities when compared to its competition. Nonetheless, Blackberry Assistant could prove to be quite popular among mobile users. It will ship as part of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone, the square-shaped mobile device which is BlackBerry’s next big release, for which a price or ship date has not been released.

Apple launches new service for iOS users in Japan

Apple may be testing its mobile payments platform in Japan. The famed technology company has launched a new service for Japanese iPhone and iPod users. The services is called iTunes Pass and is associated with the iTunes Store, the App Store, and the iBookstore. The service will allow people to use their financial data to pay for products on Apple’s various store platforms. This could be the beginning of a much larger mobile payments initiative from Apple.

Company retains its strong interest in mobile payments and shopping

Apple has had a strong interest in mobile payments for some time. The company has, however, been quite cautious when it comes to entering into the mobile money space. This is due to the large number of similar companies that have fallen prey to the digital threats that exist in the mobile world. Google, for instance, encountered serious security issues with the initial launch of its Wallet platform, which stymied its attraction to those interested in mobile shopping and payments. Apple is keen to avoid such issues.

iTunes Pass is designed as a high tech substitute for physical gift cards

Currently, the iTunes Pass service is designed to serve as a replacement for physical gift cards. Digital versions of these gift cards can be stored in the Passbook application, which is Apple’s version of a mobile wallet. Gift cards stored in Passbook can be accessed by iTunes Pass, allowing those that own these gift card the ability to use them to purchase goods from Apple’s digital stores.

Rumors suggest that the iPhone 6 will have mobile payments capabilities, but such features are not yet set in stone

Apple has taken a slow approach to the mobile payments space. For the past two years, rumors concerning the company’s entry into the field of digital commerce have largely been centered around new versions of the company’s iPhone device or its iOS operating system. Current rumors suggest that the iPhone 6 will mark Apple’s official entry into the mobile payments arena, but whether or not this will be will the case has yet to be seen.