Users can use the Google Assistant since this week in the US and UK for cinema tickets reservation and purchase. This is made possible by Google Duplex technology.
The Google Assistant is the equivalent of Apple's Siri and is designed to support everyday users. For example, Google Assistant's previous responsibilities included booking for a restaurant. Google continued to develop the in-house assistant and introduced a new feature this week. Google Assistant is now able to book cinema tickets. For this, the assistant sorts and scours the individual websites of the providers and then leads the user directly to the "Buy Now Button." The advantage of this is that you do not have to download the apps of each provider before to buy a ticket.
This works with Google's so-called duplex technology. Duplex became known to the general public through the Duplex Call Bot, which can mimic a human voice and perform restaurant reservations. This web duplex technology does not call the cinemas but navigates the user through the internet until the end of the purchase. The Google Assistant will search for the movie you're looking for and automatically fill in the payment information. This virtual assistant does all the tasks and saves the user unnecessary clicks. If there are problems or ambiguities example, if you have a special seat request, the Google Assistant asks the user for advice.
Die-hard moviegoers will probably be less likely to use the Google Assistant, as they usually have an app downloaded, and their data is usually already stored. For spontaneous moviegoers, this feature could be an enrichment. Users in other countries still have to be patient; after all, this new feature is currently only available in the US and UK.
