San Francisco, Jun 14 (IANS): In a significant development, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday announced to move its digital assistant Siri to Mac and opening it to third-party developers. He also unveiled iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads on the opening day of the annual Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.
Siri arriving on Mac is a move users have been expecting for years. Apart from bundling familiar features, Siri on Mac also packs new tricks. The digital assistant can show files in the Finder, manage media and sync files.
She can search the web and show results right in the Siri window. You'll then be able to use the images directly in your apps. Siri can also send iMessages -- a functionality that's already available on iOS and watchOS.
Apple has also created a Siri SDK, which means that developers will now be able to incorporate it into their apps at will.
It means that Apple may allow iPhone users to ask Siri to call for an Uber ride or check in for a flight from an airline app. Currently, the virtual assistant is set apart from most other services in the iPhone.
On the other hand, Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa has this facility where you can order a pizza or even check your credit card balance.
Cook also showcased iOS 10 featuring huge updates like stickers and full-screen effects to Apple Messages that delivers more expressive and animated ways to connect with friends and family, the Cupertino-based tech giant said in a statement.
"Messages is the most frequently used iOS app and with iOS 10, it will become more expressive. Automatic suggestions will make it easy to replace words with emoji," it read.
iOS 10 introduces the ability for Siri to do more by working with apps, beautifully redesigned Maps, Photos, Apple Music and News apps and the Home app, delivering a simple and secure way to manage home automation products in one place.
The company has rolled out beta versions for developers and public beta versions for non-developers will follow in July.
Apple Pay will now be available on the Mac courtesy of new web integration, and purchases are authenticated with an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch using Continuity.
The company introduced updates for its Apple TV platform and revealed there are over 1,300 video channels and over 6,000 native apps for the Apple TV, and it all happened in just seven months, tech website BGR.com reported.
The most interesting new feature of Apple TV is Single sign-on which will let you enter your sign in credentials a lot easier than before.
Apple also released a new Apple TV remote app for the iPhone that will get you the exact same features available on the regular TV remote.
The company also announced Swift Playgrounds for iPad that would allow users to play with Swift code on their device for the first time.
The free Swift Playgrounds will be available in the App Store.
Apple has made several different tutorials to gradually explain to people how to learn Swift. This includes fully 3D basic 'games' using Swift functions to control the character.