BlackBerry Is Working On A Siri-Like Feature Called 'BlackBerry Assistant'

All of the major smartphone platforms have virtual assistant features, but now BlackBerry wants to get in on the action.

Apple  iOS has Siri, Google  Android has Google Now andMicrosoft Windows Phone has Cortana. BlackBerry’s virtual assistant feature is called BlackBerry Assistant. BlackBerry Assistant will be available in the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system when it launches this fall and the Passport smartphone will be the first device to have it.

BlackBerry Assistant performs the functions that you would expect out of a virtual assistant with your voice commands. It can be used to manage e-mails, set up calendar events, post updates to social media and create reminders. BlackBerry Assistant is also compatible with BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) so you can send messages to contacts with your voice.

You will notice in the image above that BlackBerry Assistant is also compatible with the keyboard so you can type commands. The commands can be typed directly from the home screen without having to open other apps.

There are several commands that are supported by BlackBerry Assistant that other virtual assistants cannot perform. You can ask BlackBerry Assistant to read your latest e-mail and then tell it to “mark as unread.” You can tell BlackBerry Assistant to “turn on the flashlight” or “turn off the flashlight.” I asked Siri to turn on my iPhone’s flashlight and it said “Sorry, but I’m not able to do that.” You can say “phone calls only, please” to BlackBerry Assistant and it will turn off all of the sounds, except the phone ringer. This could be useful when you are expecting an important phone call, but do not want to interrupt a meeting otherwise.

BlackBerry said that Assistant will improve the more it is used. “The more I use it, the more it learns and adapts to me. The more I speak with it, the more tuned-in to my queries it gets. If you’ve had experience with other smartphone-based personal assistants, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate BlackBerry Assistant is at recognizing your requests,” said Donny Halliwell, the social media marketing lead and editor for the Inside BlackBerry blogs.

BlackBerry Passport

Last month, BlackBerry announced a new smartphone called the Passport. The Passport has a 4.5-inch square display with a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels. Below the square display is a stretched QWERTY keyboard. The Passport is expected to arrive in September with BlackBerry OS 10.3 and BlackBerry Assistant.

John Chen’s Turnaround Plan

BlackBerry has a 0.8% smartphone marketshare and it will drop to 0.3% in 2018, according to estimates by IDC. BlackBerry CEO John Chen insists that the company is turning around despite falling behind its rivals. Chen is cutting costs, selling assets and executing a plan to hit break-even cash flow by the end of this fiscal year.

Chen is expecting BlackBerry to return to profitability by March 2016. “Right now, everything that I’m doing is judiciously starting to lay the groundwork for revenue growth for next year,” said Chen in an interview with Bloomberglast month.

In your opinion, what do you think of BlackBerry developing a virtual assistant? Do you think it will add substantial value to future BlackBerry devices? Let us know in the comments.