Google Inc.’s annual developer-focused I/O (Input/Output) conference is being held this week in Mountain View, Calif., and the tech giant is eager for Android users and the Apple faithful alike to attend.
According to Bloomberg, Google plans to reveal the expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI)-based Google Assistant to at least three more platforms – coffee tables, kitchens, and believe it or not, iPhones – during the conference, which starts with a keynote at 1 PM EST today and is being streamed online.
Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg reporters Mark Gurman and Mark Bergen said that Google Assistant, which competes with Apple’s own Siri, is scheduled to be released on the App Store as a free standalone iPhone app, first in the U.S. with other countries to follow.
The company also plans to add a feature to its Photos app that will allow users to easily create physical coffee table books, similar to Shutterfly Inc., according to the source, and to integrate Google Assistant into GE-manufactured home appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, ovens, washers, and dryers.
While a Google spokesperson declined to comment on the Bloomberg story, the I/O conference includes more than enough opportunity to prove the website’s source correct: In addition to the 90-minute opening keynote, developers can look forward to a keynote of their own at 4 PM EST.
Elsewhere, Google will be running sessions on Android’s newest features, monetizing apps, the future of online payments, and the company’s virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) plans.
For more information, check out the Google I/O website.