The Smart Assistant market, albeit in a nascent stage, has a lot going on. The Google Assistant is arguably on the top of the food chain, with Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Echo at a close second. Then there are the likes of Bixby and Cortana (heh), which are struggling to make their presence felt. Samsung is going about this by expanding Bixby’s capabilities so that the assistant can do more. With Bixby 2.0 and several Bixby enabled appliances, Samsung means business. Today, Samsung announced that Bixby would be able to order coffee and other menu items from Starbucks in South Korea via voice commands, and Bixby will do the rest.
Linking Bixby to Starbucks Korea’s mobile order and payment app Siren Order has made the process possible. The app, which lets customers order and pay for their items, was launched by Starbucks South Korea in 2014. For now, South Korea is the only country where Starbucks launched its Siren Order system. The integration with Bixby lets users pay for their orders, ask for parking information and a whole lot more.
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To make the experience as realistic as possible, the ordering interface via Bixby has been designed to replicate the in-store interaction with a barista. Orders can be placed as they would be with a real person, and you can even ask for extra cream and all that good stuff. For all we know, Bixby might even misspell your name on the cup for an authentic Starbucks experience. The best part is, Bixby will quickly transition from the ordering page to the payment portal without the assistance of any third-party apps. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to go to the store and pick up your order. Don’t worry, though, Bixby-powered delivery drones might eliminate that step soon.
Any Samsung user with a Bixby-enabled device can now avail the facility but only in South Korea. Supported devices include the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9/S9+ and the Galaxy S8/S8+. Now that it has been established that it is possible to integrate Bixby with a food ordering app, there is a strong likelihood of Samsung entering similar partnerships with other food and beverage chains that run their mobile ordering and payment services.
If things go well, you’ll be able to use Bixby to order from a variety of locations, just via a few voice commands. However, looks like we’re going to have to wait a bit, as Samsung will tinker around with it in Korea, before rolling it out en-masse across other markets.
Source: sammobile
