Nearly two years after Apple added OpenTable into its mobile voice-commanded virtual assistant Siri, competitor Google has finally done the same. According to Google's blog post, the company has just released an update for its mobile app that integrates OpenTable into the voice search function. If a customer has the OpenTable app, they can simply ask the Google app, using voice commands, to find a specific restaurant. Users can then ask the app to make a reservation at the restaurant at a certain time. If the restaurant is on OpenTable and has available seats at the requested time, users will then see a "reservation screen pop up with all the details filled out." The reservation can then be confirmed with a tap of a button.
Like Siri, Google can now also show users restaurants that are nearby. The spokesperson adds that if a user's hotel reservation is saved in their email, all they have to do is ask Google to "show me restaurants near my hotel" and a list will pop up.
While the convenience is great for Google app users, OpenTable — which was bought by Priceline for $2.6 billion this summer — is the major winner in this deal. This is just one more outlet through which the online restaurant reservation site has managed to solidify its place as a leader in the ongoing reservations war. Not only is OpenTable integrated into both Apple and Google search functions, the company recently announced that it has also partnered with Apple's new mobile payment platform Apple Pay. The updated app is available for Android and iOS starting today.