Rumor: Google Assistant For iOS Soft-Launching In US Soon Androidheadlines.com

The Google Assistant is set to be released on iOS devices in the near future, sources with knowledge of the matter reportedly said on Monday. The Mountain View-based tech giant has allegedly been developing an iOS version of its artificial intelligence (AI) companion for some time now and is planning to soft-launch it in the United States before eventually rolling out its voice-enabled companion to compatible iPhones, iPods, and iPads in other parts of the world, the report states. It remains to be seen when exactly is the Alphabet-owned company planning to officially announce an iOS version of the Google Assistant, but the expansion of its AI digital helper may be confirmed as early as this week seeing how the company's annual developer conference -- Google I/O 2017 -- is scheduled to start on Wednesday, May 17. The iOS version of the Google Assistant won't be as integrated into Apple's proprietary operating system as it is into Android for obvious reasons, the report states, adding that the company is instead planning to release a service that's a combination of the regular voice-enabled companion and its chat-oriented version that's available as part of the Google Allo app. If the rumor turns out to be accurate, it would indicate that the Internet giant is making another major push in the consumer-grade AI service market by apparently trying to create a larger phone ecosystem around the Google Assistant instead of tying its companion exclusively to Android.