How Some Developers Are Already Taking Advantage of Siri

Siri is arguably the hottest smartphone feature of 2011. Even those without an iPhone 4S are familiar with Apple’s edgy digital assistant. But although Siri has received a lot of media attention, it’s still not anywhere near where it could be.

Not only can the feature not launch apps, it’s not compatible at all with third-party software. And while folks are expecting Apple to eventually give developers access to Siri’s APIs, some app builders have already found ways to take advantage of it…

MacStories spotlights a recent update to the iTeleport iOS app that adds a new app-launching voice command feature. For those who aren’t familiar with it, iTeleport is a popular VNC client that allows you to remotely connect to your desktop using your iDevice.

The voice command feature in itself is a cool addition. The iPhone’s screen can feel pretty cramped while trying to run a full-sized computer. But the cool thing is how the developers implemented the voice commands — they actually used Siri.

“Once connected to a Mac, the keyboard icon in the upper toolbar of iTeleport will display the standard iOS system keyboard with a compose box on top of it. And because the iPhone 4S comes with Siri and dictation, the keyboard will also have the dedicated microphone icon next to the spacebar. What happens with iTeleport is that if you say “Launch iTunes” through Siri’s dictation, the app won’t transcribe your command in the text box — it will directly launch the app.”

According to MacStories, the developers have figured out a way to turn dictated text into voice commands, in-app. Although it’s not native Siri integration, it’s a workaround that isn’t highly visible to the user — which is always a plus.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen developers integrate Siri with their applications using trickery, but it is one of the better implementations we’ve come across. Now imagine what the jailbreak community could do with Siri.