Google has opened up API access to its virtual assistant Google Now application for the first time ever. What this means is developers can now integrate their application with Google Now so that end users can use Google Now to request data from third-party applications.
As of launch, Google announced that over 30 popular applications have already been integrated with Google Now. The list includes The Guardian, The Economy, News 360, AirBnB, Trip Advisor, eBay and Wikipedia.
As more developers integrate their applications with Google Now, more complex and useful commands can be used to do more tasks with your Android phone. Up until now, you could launch most third-party Android apps by Google Now. With the new system in place, you could do more interactive actions just by giving voice command to Google Now.
Here’s a demo of how Google Now integration with Wikipedia works. You can search by asking the definition of something on Google Now and it will look up on Wikipedia, read the first paragraph from there loud. But it’s still in very early stage. When more developers start embracing the power of Google Now voice commands, you will likely see more complex operations become easier with Google Now.
The race for intelligent voice search on mobile platform has been on ever since Apple introduced Siri on its mobile operating system iOS. Google Now has been a worthy competitor, but it isn’t as witty as iOS. In terms of wittiness, Microsoft’s Cortana comes close. With Windows 10, the voice-assistant from Microsoft is getting even more intelligent and better suited to serve users with near perfection. This could be the reason why Google suddenly opened up API access to its voice search assistant to enable more developers take advantage of it.