OpenTable

Apple partner OpenTable to be acquired by Priceline for $2.6 billion

Priceline has announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire online restaurant reservation service and Apple content partner OpenTable. The travel site will be doling out $103 per share in the all cash transaction, which is said to be worth $2.6 billion.

For those unfamiliar with it, OpenTable facilitates restaurant reservations through its website and mobile apps. Apple has long been a proponent of the service, which it reaffirmed in 2012 by integrating it into its digital assistant Siri, as part of the year's iOS 6 update...

OpenTable testing meal payments via iPhone

While increasingly common to use your iPhone to reserve a seat at your favorite table, there has been that annoying task of paying the tab at the end of the meal. A leading player in online reservations, OpenTable, is testing a way to eat out and never touch your wallet.

According to reports, OpenTable - which also lets you reserve a table via Apple's Siri as well as a separate free app - has begun testing a feature allowing diners to pay for their meals with the iPhone. Perhaps most appetizing is the CEO's pledge that "no geeky stuff" is required...

How Apple’s casual search engine Siri is containing Google search on iOS

Steve Jobs used to defend his "thermonuclear" option against Android by stressing how Apple did not enter the search space while Google had decided to challenge the iPhone with its Android.

Jobs' words no longer hold true. With Siri, an AI-driven personal digital assistant, Apple has begun slowly but surely eating into Google's significant search traffic coming from iOS devices.

As such, Siri is emerging as a key tool for casual search on iOS devices. And with iOS 6, Apple is expanding her reach with new alliances, making it easier for users to bypass Google, especially for local search...