Google Now has been around for quite a while now and it has been quietly gaining some impressive abilities over the last couple of years. Having Google Now look at your emails and then surface important information like flight data or shipping notices from Amazon will never get old, and now according to a Google blog post, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Writing on the Google Search blog, Director of Product Management Aparna Chennapragada shared the news that Google has been working with over 30+ different developers in order to give them access to Google Now like they have never had before. Now, apps like Airbnb and Lyft will be able to create their very own cards inside Google Now, bringing their own information to users from within Google Now
Google says that over 40 different apps can now take advantage of the new Google Now integration although it will take time for all the required updates to roll out. Until then all we can do is make sure we have the latest version of the Google app installed on our Android devices and wait for third-party developers to do their part. Unfortunately though, right now at least, this is an Android-only thing. Users of iOS will have to wait indefinitely for such integration to arrive.
The kind of information that apps can hand over to Google Now opens up all kinds of use cases that were previously impossible. Google suggests that Pandora will be able to put a card inside Google Now that shows your favorite tracks when the time is right, and those flying frequently will see Lyft cards appear whenever they arrive at an airport. It’s that kind of feature, bringing information to the fore when it’s needed without you having to go looking for it, that makes Google Now so powerful. With the news that third-party apps can now tie into it, we can’t wait to see where developers take it.
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