UNTIL recently, personal assistants were a luxury available only to successful executives and those wealthy enough to pay another human being to organise their lives. That could change, if technology firms have their way. Recently Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have been investing heavily in developing software that can replicate some of the functions of personal assistants, such as booking restaurant reservations, keeping tabs on the traffic and weather and offering alerts for upcoming meetings. Last week Apple announced it is bringing its virtual-assistant software, Siri, to the television set. Why are tech firms battling so fiercely with one another to offer virtual personal assistants?
With the rise of smartphones, companies are able to burrow deeper into consumers’ lives than ever before. Developing useful software can differentiate firms in the minds of customers and enhance loyalty to their platforms. For example, rivals Apple, Google and Microsoft all have different smartphone offerings, and also offer differentiated personal assistants, in Siri, Google Now and Cortana, respectively. Amazon has a standalone device that looks like a speaker, called Echo, which can do several things, including reading audiobooks and reordering items through Amazon. Smart assistants can also extract new information about users, which will be helpful to driving future revenues. With their software, firms learn about what people search for, where they go and other details. Recently Facebook launched “M”, a personal concierge offering in its Messaging app, which can help buy and organise things on users’ behalf, giving it insights into people’s commercial transactions that Facebook would otherwise not have.