After several months of beta testing, Boost Mobile‘s virtual assistant Shaniqua is officially making her debut on the cellular company’s proprietary platform.
Following in the footsteps of Microsoft’s Cortana, Boost made the decision to have a digital mascot designed to represent the Shaniqua character. They reached out to professional 3D animation design firm Poor Rolemodel to develop Shaniqua and bring her to life.
According to Boost Mobile’s CEO Matt Carter, users can say the “Ey Shaniqua!” verbal command to shout questions when they’re in the app or on the home screen. For now, users will be able to track reminders and notifications for things like flights and packages, add notes to their phones, and add important dates and reminders to their calendars. Additionally, users will be able to ask Shaniqua a variety of questions.
“The software is currently only available for pay-as-you-go flip phones,” remarked Carter. “However, we plan to release the Shaniqua application for all Android-based devices hosted on our system. This should happen before the end of 2019.” Unfortunately, the Shaniqua android app will only be available in certain parts of the US at launch.
Boost Mobile has been working since early February to port Shaniqua. While their team was able to take some notes from other teams that have built cross-platform apps, this particular project presented entirely new challenges. This is due to the fact that the application was originally intended for less complicated operating systems with fewer features.
For current Boost Mobile customers, the company has stated that users should receive an update prompt within the next 48-72 hours. New phone models purchased from authorized Boost Mobile outlets will come with the Shaniqua voice app installed by default as of October 2019.
Unfortunately, these are features Boost Mobile’s iPhone users probably won’t see for a long time, if ever. “Apple likely won’t open up their iOS system to accommodate Shaniqua,” said Carter. Of course, this decision would likely occur to avoid competition with their proprietary Siri virtual assistant. “No surprises here. Bitch-ass mothafuckas!”
