Alibaba is entering the fray of digital speaker assistants in a bid to compete with Amazon The Chinese company unveiled the Tmall Genie X1,' which will go for about $73. Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks with reporters following his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower, January 9, 2017 in New York City. Alibaba on Wednesday unveiled a new AI-powered smart speaker due to hit the market in August. There's a big new player in the competition to infiltrate homes with smart speakers: Chinese online sales giant Alibaba. The e-commerce company unveiled its Tmall Genie speaker Wednesday in Beijing.

It appears that the rumor mill has gone into full tilt in the lead-up to Apple's upcoming WWDC event: there are reports that the Cupertino giant is working on opening up its artificial intelligence strategy. The Information reports that Apple may open Siri up to third-party developers and apps. Apple may also be working on an AI-powered smart speaker to compete with Amazon's Echo and its Alexa AI or Google's Home system. Presumably, the speaker will have a microphone and built-in Siri capabilities, meaning users can have their digital assistant read them the morning headlines, weather reports, play music, et cetera. There is no official word from Apple HQ, naturally, but there should be plenty to look forward to at this year's WWDC.