Former Apple, Google, and Yahoo engineers have come together to make SMS smarter and helpful. One engineer built Siri, led Google Voice for mobile, and also spent a few years at Apple. The other led Yahoo Messenger and is also the man behind the redesign of TechCrunch. Together, these individuals are attempting to reinvent the popular text-based platform - the SMS - to be smarter. So far, the last innovation of SMS was the ability to add pictures. However, since then, nothing much has happened, despite paving the way for several Internet Messengers to arise.
The new SMS app is called Emu, and from what we understand, the app knows what the user is saying and adds what the company calls "Smart Buttons to text messages." That means, users will have the ability to automatically set-up a meeting in their calendar. As the user searches for a movie, he/she can purchase tickets right from Emu. When talking with a friend about favorite restaurants or where to eat, the option is there to reserve a spot via OpenTable.
Furthermore, users can share their live location with the person their texting. It's quite impressive, and could work wonders for parents who might have the need to always know where their children are located.
The app is constantly watching and listening. Always waiting for the opportunity to help without the need for the user to engage with it.
"When we started working on the app, we wanted to do the things people are talking about in text messages, and near-time coordination is what a lot of people do when texting," said co-founder and CEO Gummi Hafsteinsson, who formerly worked with Siri at Apple.
Clearly the team has something interesting going on here, which is the reason Emu has received $1.5 million in funding from angel investors and top-tier venture capitalists.
The current version of the app is only available for Android devices; an iOS version is in the pipeline, but lacking an official release date at this time. Yet again, users of the Windows Phone 8 platform are left in the cold.
