Apple to Offer App Developers Access to Siri and iMessage - The New York Times

Ordering a multi-person lunch via chat is now a killer app; also see What You Need to Know About Apple’s Software Upgrades (NYT)

"On Monday, Apple said it was allowing access to two of its crown jewels — Siri and its messaging app, iMessage — hoping that the creativity of outside developers will spur a round of innovation to make the iPhone seem as magical as it did when the first apps were introduced eight years ago.

Showing off how developers could use messaging, an Apple executive opened the food-delivery app DoorDash from inside Apple iMessage and put together a joint order with friends.

Earlier this year, Facebook opened up Messenger to bots, automated software assistants that can accomplish various tasks. Google also announced plans to introduce a messaging service with similar capabilities."

Apple to Offer App Developers Access to Siri and iMessage - The New York Times