Apple has just bought up a company that apparently needs it for its future and existing voice products. Behind it is PullString, also known as ToyTalk, after the company was acquired by Axios. From the startup come toys such as a talking Barbie and Thomas the locomotive – so they are primarily concerned with language toys.
Now the question is: why does Apple have any interest in such a company? Well, Siri is generally being deprecated by Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant. Not only in terms of speech recognition and utilities, but also in terms of the developer ecosystem. Google and Amazon have built platforms to include tools from outside developers in the repertoire. Including quizzes and games for children.
So if Apple wants to have a real opportunity in the smart home market with Siri and the HomePod, it needs to expand its applications in this regard. The purchase of PullString suggests that the company is increasingly looking to use voice-activated toys for children to compete with its competitors at this level.
Whether PullString is the right partner for this, you have to wait and see. After all, in 2015, the company was confronted with some allegations of “child monitors”. They countered this criticism confidently, by analyzing the safety of the Wello Barbie doll in detail and made it clear that it has never been hacked. The privacy policy has changed since then and many people are known to buy ever-listening echoes and Google Homes.
In 2016, the company changed its name to PullString for the first time, focusing on developer tools that make it possible to visualize conversations. In addition, one increasingly deals with products that have been published for the language assistants of Google and Amazon. Now you obviously want to also consider the Siri platform. So far, neither company has commented on these acquisitions.