Blackberry is about to introduce its version of a voice-activated phone system that could compete with Apple's Siri, Android's Google Now, and Microsoft's Cortana.
Introduced over a week ago via Blackberry's website, the new Blackberry Assistant as it is called, could be available on the smartphone makers new Passport phone. The Blackberry Assistant could do more than other voice-activated systems, but is the Canadian company too late to the voice-activated smartphone game, or are they still out facing the Canadian winter.
The BlackBerry Assistant will be available on the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system of their Passport smartphone. Similarly to other voice-activated and virtual assistant functions, the BlackBerry Assistant can search email and calendar appointments, as well as search the web or social media networks; and it can carry out actions such as, composing and sending emails, this is all via voice activation, The Verge reported.
The BlackBerry Assistant also boasts that it can read your emails, change certain settings, create and set reminders, as well as type commands in the app, Fast Company magazine reported. The smartphone company also says that the Assistant will later adapt itself to the needs of the user, and it could become even more accurate.
While the aforementioned capabilities of the BlackBerry Assistant sounds very similar to that of its competitors, it can do something extra like turn off the flashlight and turn it back on within its own smartphone. Siri cannot do that, Forbes reported. Also, that last email that you read, the Assistant can mark it as unread. This might sound simple to some, but this could be the boost that the low profiting smartphone company could need.
The BlackBerry Assistant can also utilize the Passport's physical keyboard, which allows the user to carry out actions by typing directly to the home screen. In other words, this could help the user to post, email and send messages without even having to activate the app, The Verge reported.
As an added bonus, the BlackBerry Assistant is also compatible with BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), this means that one can send messages to your contacts with simply your voice.
CEO of the company John Chen, says that the company is indeed coming around, while facts and figures may suggest that the company is way behind its competitors, Forbes reported. Chen is doing everything he can to keep the company out of the red by reducing its costs, selling off certain assets, and just attempting to meet their minimum cash needs by the time the fiscal year ends.
Chen says about the company, "Right now, everything that I'm doing is judiciously starting to lay the groundwork for revenue growth for next year."
BlackBerry wants to make a profit by March 2016. The BlackBerry Assistant is coming on stream with the Passport smartphone by the fall of this year, Forbes reported.
