A week ago we found out that iOS 5.1 could bring us more functions for the personal assistant Siri and with its help we could take pictures, record videos, open applications, etc. but the first beta version of the new operating system it doesn't make sense that this will take place. In the changelog for iOS 5.1 beta 1 Apple tells iOS app developers that a new series of APIs are available that integrate certain features of Siri's dictation system into 3rd party apps.
A source confirmed to Ars that a handful of the new iOS 5.1 APIs allow developers to specifically handle the response from Siri's speech-recognition servers. These APIs don't allow developers to integrate Siri support for controlling an app the way that Apple has with, say, Messages or Reminders. But it does open up the possibility to better handle text dictation input.
Unfortunately, Apple does not offer us much in this beta version 1 of iOS 5.1, but that does not mean that Siri functionality will not be extended until the release of the official version of iOS 5.1. Apple has a habit of changing things at the last minute so maybe two/three beta versions down the road we'll see some really useful features available to Siri and developers.
