We mentioned in our Bixby review that Samsung's digital assistant is a story of unfulfilled potential. There's a lot that Samsung needs to do so that its users can get the most out of Bixby. To that end, Samsung recently announced the launch of Bixby 2.0. The company said that the next iteration is going to be a “bold reinvention” of the Bixby platform. It's going to transform the assistant from a novelty to a bonafide artificial intelligence tool.
Samsung isn't interested in limiting Bixby to mobile devices. The company has said in the past that it wants to expand the assistant to more devices, even its appliances. Samsung North America CEO Tim Baxter has reiterated that Samsung sees a greater role for Bixby in users' homes.
Bixby In Your Home
Speaking at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit, Baxter said that Bixby 2.0 will bring the assistant to Samsung's televisions, appliances and other devices. Samsung believes that this will create new multi-device experiences and benefits for its customers.
Samsung has envisioned an ecosystem of Bixby devices for users' homes. For example, if they want to see how much milk they've left in the refrigerator, all they need to do is ask Bixby and it'll show them how much is left.
As comparisons are drawn between Bixby and rival assistants like Alexa and Siri, Baxter said that Samsung has designed Bixby to specifically interact with its devices, not as a means to search the web or purchase items online.
“Samsung is coming at it from, ‘How do I utilize the technology and benefits in the device using a new UI and using voice?’ So, the ability to communicate directly to your device to learn more about it,” Baxter said.
The company is yet to reveal when we'll start to see the first Bixby 2.0 integrations between multiple Samsung devices.
