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Apple is working on an Amazon Echo competitor, says The Information.
The company will also be creating a "development kit" for Siri, giving third-party developers access to the system.
This will be the more immediate move, according to publication, with the Echo competitor likely to be launched closer to 2018.
Echo is Amazon's voice-controlled speaker system for homes, and Apple's competitor is likely to use Siri as a way of controlling volume, setting alarms and sending text messages, as well as controlling music or video tracks.
Alexa, Amazon's AI assistant, can be used in much the same way as Siri.
If you ask the Echo speaker a question – about the news or weather, for example – it will answer, and users can also control music through voice control. Echo was introduced in 2014 and is both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled.
Google has also recently announced a similar home speaker system, Google Home, which will also be powered by an AI assistant and is expected to be launched by the end of the year.
With a simple voice command, you can ask Google Home to "play a song, set a timer for the oven, check your flight, or turn on your lights," the company said.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
