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Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby, the first version of which is currently present on Samsung’s flagships, will see its second avatar, Bixby 2.0, launched in 2018. Bixby 2.0 was introduced at the Samsung Developer’s Conference (SDC) 2017 in San Francisco, last week.
Ji Soo Yi, Vice-President, Intelligence Strategy Group of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung, said on Thursday that the company is already working with select developers on the virtual assistant, and it will be available to more developers in the future. Laying out the vision for Bixby 2.0, he said it will be one platform supporting multiple languages and devices.
“We want it to be on the cloud to make it work for more devices,” Ji Soo Yi said, and reiterated that it will be a one-stop-shop assistant for multiple operating systems such as Android, Tizen, etc. “The idea is that you are interacting with Bixby and not with the device.”
Bixby 1.0 was introduced in India on Samsung’s flagship smartphones — the S8, S8+ and the latest Note 8. It took on other virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. With Bixby 2.0, Samsung is taking it to a whole suite of devices, including TVs, refrigerators and other household appliances.
For India While remaining non-committal about Hindi being available on the platform, Ji Soo Yi said that the country is a significant market. “The Indian market is very important,” he said. Notably, Indian music sounds are the only regional influence on Samsung’s sound design for its mobile phones.
Bixby 2.0 will slowly make its way to other Samsung mobile phones and will not stay limited to just the flagships, according to Ji Soo Yi. “It will be ubiquitous,” he said. “Bixby 2.0 will be a lot more open compared with the first version.”
The assistant’s first version is known for integrating different app functions to give users a personalised experience. With the new generation of Bixby, Samsung wants it to be a hub of various apps and services.
The writer is in Seoul at the invitation of Samsung.
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