Apple buys voice app startup PullString

“Apple has agreed to buy PullString, a San Francisco-based startup that enables the design and publishing of voice apps, Axios has learned from multiple sources,” Dan Primack and Ina Fried report for Axios.
“This could help Siri better compete with Alexa,” Primack and Fried report. “PullString was founded in 2011 by a group of former Pixar executives, and originally was used to power interactive voice apps for toys (including Hello Barbie in 2015). It later broadened its approach with the introduction of such IoT products as Amazon Echo and Google Assistant.”
“The upfront deal value is said to be around $30 million, plus around $10 million in potential earn-outs for management,” Primack and Fried report. “That would include CEO Oren Jacob, who once served as Pixar’s CTO.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The synergy abounds.
We continue to pull the string to see where it takes us. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, January 24, 2012
We can continue to pull the string and see where it leads us. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, January 23, 2013
We inspire them to pull the string and see where it takes them. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, December 9, 2015
Of course, Cook was talking about Apple TV and coding education, but how could he not buy a company named PullString?
Plus the fact that they can do this and soon, hopefully, so will Siri:

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