A new capability announced by Wolfram Alpha enabling its clients to browse Best Buy's electronics and appliances data provides iPhone 4S Siri users a new way to shop and compare products using their voice.
Apple has indicated that it will be progressively expanding the capabilities of its Siri voice assistant feature of the iPhone 4S, but enhancements from the sources Siri draws upon, in this case the Wolfram Alpha knowledge base, can also add to Siri's repertoire independently of Apple.
Wolfram Alpha reports in its blog that it is now leveraging data from Best Buy's public APIs to enable queries against the retailer's database of 35,000 consumer products.
"We’ve taken the strengths we’ve developed in math, science, and socioeconomic data and created something equally unique and useful for online shoppers," the search provider stated.
Using either the web or one's own voice using Siri, users can search for a general product category or a specific product model and obtain a comprehensive report detailing product features, prices and availability, users ratings, price comparisons with similar models.
Wolfram Alpha notes users can even shop for products based on their specific needs, such as asking for "the lightest digital camera under $100 with a pixel resolution greater than 12MP,” or compare multiple models to see how they stack up.
The Best Buy data is currently only available to users in the United States. Apple itself has been promoting Siri in a new ad portraying its use by Santa Claus, a spot that never actually mentions or displays the words "iPhone 4S" or "Siri."
