By the time Samsung introduced its own virtual assistant, Bixby, it was already late to the party. Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft were already investing heavily in developing an intelligent assistant that can be built into various devices. Samsung still decided to take up the challenge and build an intelligent assistant into all of its products.
To catch up with the competition, Samsung tried to bring some unique features that were not available in others assistants. It also tried to incentivize customers to use Bixby more frequently through the My Bixby Level service. Without offering any explanation, the company has now decided to shut down the incentive program and all related services on August 10, 2018.
No more Samsung Pay rewards points from Bixby
The My Bixby Level program rewards users with different color assistant backgrounds and Samsung Pay rewards upon asking questions, performing tasks, unlocking levels, etc. By incentivizing Bixby usage, and thereby collecting more data, Samsung was hoping to improve its assistant quickly. Even before Bixby could see substantial improvements, the company has decided to end the incentives.
The different color backgrounds for Bixby is a cosmetic feature, and Samsung may continue to offer them without linking to any incentive program. This may, however, be the end of earning Samsung Pay rewards points through Bixby.
