14 DAY TRIAL // Nuance Communications has announced that its innovative voice technology is now powering the voice recognition capabilities in the new Ask for iPhone application from Ask.com. The news comes amid talks of Apple acquiring Nuance for its expertise in voice-recognition technology based on a statement made by Apple Co-Founder, Steve Wozniak this week.
“Nuance’s trusted voice recognition and interface creates a simple and intuitive Q&A experience for Ask.com users, allowing them to quickly and easily speak questions, and then receive answers from Ask.com on-the-go right from their mobile devices,” Nuance explains in a report that just hit the wires.
According to the company specializing in voice-recognition, “Ask for iPhone instantly returns the best answer from the web in response to user questions; if the web's best answer isn't sufficient, the service then leverages proprietary technology to route the question directly to a relevant Ask.com user.”
“The voice-to-text feature really resonates with users, and makes the whole question asking experience on a mobile device easier than ever,” said Tony Gentile, senior vice president, products, Ask.com US.
“Speaking a search for information feeds consumers’ need for instant gratification – it’s easier, faster and sometimes more accurate than typing in what you’re looking for,” said Mike Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile.
“We’ve experienced first hand the impact that voice technology has on the mobile app experience, which is why we’re creating a developer ecosystem that enables brands like Ask.com to create a simple, fun and easy-to-use interface that lets consumers get answers and information in just a spoken few words.”
During a televised interview with Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak, the Apple Co-Founder briefly mentions that Apple bought Nuance, as he engaged in a conversation about the importance of voice recognition technology as a method of input.
He also mentions the Siri acquisition, which is confirmed, which seems to add credence to his statement. However, Woz may not have all his facts straight, or may have heard that Apple was in talks to buy Nuance at most.
Even so, as BusinessInsider points out, Nuance is a public company with 6,000 employees, producing software for Windows, as well as other products that Apple may, or may not be interested in buying altogether.
Moreover, Nuance is known to have disclosed its quarterly earning recently with no mentioning of any acquisition whatsoever.