Apple working on Echo-like device: report

Google is showing off a new smart-home speaker and a chat service called Allo during its annual conference that serves as a launching pad for its latest products and innovations. SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple is planning to make Siri smarter by linking it to the vast menu of iOS apps and eventually will deploy the digital assistant on a standalone device similar to Amazon's best-selling Echo, according to a published report. The news, reported Tuesday by tech media site The Information, answers an oft-asked question about why the iPhone-maker seems to be sitting on the sidelines as a growing number of companies, from Google to Siri-offshoot Viv, make big announcements about the coming age of voice-activated machine learning. Citing unnamed sources, the article said Apple was preparing to release a software developer kit, or SDK, that would allow app-makers to allow their products to integrate with Siri. Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled for June 13 in San Francisco.