Apple buys Pullstring

Apple agreed to buy Pullstring, a startup that enables the design and publishing of voice apps, as the tech giant seeks to compete more effectively with Amazon and Google in voice empowered apps. A group of former Pixar executives founded Pullstring in 2011 to make interactive voice apps for toys before expanding into Internet of Things (IoT) products.

Pullstring makes software tools for voice apps, and artificial intelligence to power those experiences and toys such as Mattel’s talking Barbie and Thomas the Tank Engine toys. The company was criticized in 2015 for creating “child surveillance devices,” but said its products had security features to protect privacy

Pullstring technology may help Apple to strengthen ties with app creators and gain broader developer support for Siri, which is critical for offering voice-enabled services that will encourage consumers to use its virtual assistant. Apple pioneered voice-enabled technology with the introduction of its Siri virtual assistant more than seven years ago, but the company has fallen behind Amazon and Google in voice-powered platforms like smart speakers that work as hubs for connected homes.

Amazon has a 70% share of the U.S. smart-speaker market with its Echo devices. Google Home trails with 24% of the installed base while Apple's HomePod is a distant third with only 6% of the market. Apple risks losing out on the growing market for IoT devices and services without a stronger presence in smart speakers.

Apple acquires Silk Labs

Apple’s HomePod is a distant third behind Amazon and Google when it comes to market share for smart speakers that double up as home hubs, with less than 5 percent share of the market for these devices in the U.S. And its flagship personal assistant, Siri, has also been determined to lag behind Google when it comes to comprehension and precision. But there are signs that the company is intent on doubling down on AI, putting it at the center of its next generation of products, and it’s using acquisitions to help it do so.

Apple has quietly acquired Silk Labs, a startup based out of San Francisco that had worked on AI-based personal assistant technology both for home hubs and mobile devices. There are two notable things about Silk’s platform that set it apart from that of other assistants: it was able to modify its behavior as it learned more about its users over time (both using sound and vision), and it was designed to work on-device — a nod to privacy and concerns about “always on” speakers listening to you, improved processing on devices and the constraints of the cloud and networking technology.

Silk Labs first product was originally conceived as integrated software and hardware: the company raised just under $165,000 in a Kickstarter to build and ship Sense, a smart speaker that would provide a way to control connected home devices and answer questions, and — with a camera integrated into the device — be able to monitor rooms and learn to recognize people and their actions.

Silk Labs announced that it would shelve the Sense hardware to focus specifically on the software, called Silk, after it said it started to receive inquiries from OEMs interested in getting a version of the platform to run on their own devices (it also raised money outside of Kickstarter, around $4 million). Potentially, Silk could give those OEMs a way of differentiating from the plethora of devices that are already on the market.