Apple sure look like they are doubling down on Siri. According to a 9to5mac writer – Mark Gurman, the ‘humble personal assisant’ can now help you to buy tickets for selected theatres in the US.
Gurman reports that, “Apple’s upcoming release of iOS 6.1 will include a new feature for Siri: the ability to get movie tickets. The feature, according to developers who are beta testing the new iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, works via Fandango. To purchase movie tickets, a user simply needs to ask their iOS device to buy tickets for a certain movie. ”
This will be a very nice move by Apple in their battle with Google. With Google getting into the hardware business, Apple is showing that they are also looking to provide more services to iOS users. I can see this sort of feature extending to others purchases such as retail, flights and sports tickets.
This will work nicely with Apple’s upcoming iWallet service.
Here is what Gurman had to say on how the feature works:
[quote] When a user asks for movie tickets for a certain movie, the applicable showtimes and theater information will be shown. Then, a user can click the buy movie tickets button and they will be routed to finish their purchase via the Fandango app from the App Store. If the user does not have Fandango installed, Siri provides a button to download the Fandango app.
Apple says that the feature is currently exclusive to users in the U.S. Additionally, developers who have used the feature say that it is not compatible with all theaters. Compatible theaters listed by Siri are accompanied by a small movie tickets icon. [/quote]
Source: 9to5mac
