Apple gets Siri-ous with patent payment plans
Patent place
Apple could be adding Siri’s functionality into its iMessage service for P2P payment transactions, according to a recent patent published by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The patent says that “one or more of the participant users can select to utilise a virtual assistant to assist the participant users with tasks during the communication session”.
This includes assistance in doing a financial transaction, as the patent adds: “For example, a task can include scheduling a meeting, performing a financial transaction, determining an estimated time of arrival, providing directions, providing weather information, alerting a user of relevant information etc.”
Siri’s series
It’s early days for this patent application, but Siri has been lively this year.
PayPal is bringing its users “an early holiday present” – the integration of Siri into PayPal.
OCBC became the first bank in Asia Pacific to let customers send cash through Siri.
Digital bank N26 (formerly Number26) is now offering voice-powered payments via Siri – the “first” bank in Germany to do so.
