Samsung Bixby is about to get a whole lot smarter, just in time for the Galaxy Home

Samsung is clearly betting big on Bixby. Plans are already afoot to take the digital assistant beyond Samsung smartphones with the recently announced Galaxy Home, as well as the company’s latest TVs and home appliances.

Now Samsung is taking things a step further by announcing plans to open the platform to third-party developers in a bid to truly rival Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

In an interview with CNBC, Samsung’s mobile chief DJ Koh confirmed that it will release both an SDK and an API in November this year at Samsung’s annual developer conference in San Francisco.

By releasing both an SDK and API, third-party developers will be able to both make new Bixby apps and offer support within other apps.

“Opening the ecosystem in November, then this baby (Bixby) will grow,” Koh told the publication.

“So I do not want to see just six months or nine months performance, no. Because this is like a long journey; it’s just starting because with the new Bixby embedded in the Note 9, a new baby was born.”

Bixby received a significant overhaul with the launch of the Note 9. The latest iteration, dubbed Bixby 2.0, has a wider focus on personalization and conversational abilities. The digital assistant also recently debuted on a wearable for the first time with the launch of the Galaxy Watch.

More: The best Google Home actions worth checking out

By opening up access to third-party devs, Samsung’s assistant should benefit from third-party apps and features in the same way Google Assistant and Alexa benefit from Actions and Skills, respectively.

Are you excited to see what the future holds for Bixby? Let us know in the comments.