The Siri voice assistant is one of the points of contention in Spotify’s anticompetition complaint against Apple: “‘Siri, can you play that awesome Spotify playlist?’ Siri says no,” as Spotify’s ‘Time to Play Fair’ website put it. Yet Apple’s soon-to-launch iOS 13 software *will* allow non-Apple music-streaming services to properly work with Siri, and thus also with the company’s HomePod smart speaker. And lo, according to tech site The Information, Spotify “is currently discussing a plan with Apple to let iPhone users tell Siri to play songs, playlists and albums with voice commands”.
This isn’t special treatment: Apple is opening up Siri to other music-streaming services too, if they do the necessary integration work. But if Spotify and Apple are actually talking about how to make it happen, that does indicate a thawing of the frost between the two companies at the development level, even if Spotify’s complaint continues – both companies are awaiting the European Commission’s decision on whether to launch a formal investigation or not.
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