May 2, 2010 by James Oliver
Apple has announced that they have acquired Siri, a mobile application that acts as a virtual personal assistant.
The application claims that it is able to do everything a human personal assistant can (within reason of course) from locating or booking the nearest restaurant to ordering a cab.
Siri is only available in the US at the moment and is exclusive to the iPod Touch and the iPhone.
The app is free and allows users to type or even speak a question into the device, “where is the nearest Chinese restaurant?” for example, and Siri will then use an algorithm to deliver the most relevant that would be determined by the users location and other relevant factors that may effect the answer.
Siri is considered one of the leaders in the field of ‘voice search’ technology and represents quite a coup for Apple who are obviously competing with Google who have their own voice search technology.
The language capabilities and voice processing technology that the acquisition of Siri will give Apple should provide them with adequate ammunition to get one up on Google in their battle for supremacy in the smart-phones market.
Apple have not yet revealed whether or not they will be integrating Siri with their own products or whether Siri will continue live as its own entity.
As with their other acquisition this week (chip maker Intrinsity) Apple did not reveal how much they paid for Siri but whatever the figure it will surely be worth it if it propels Apple to the head of the market for voice technology.
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Comment by Bob — May 27, 2010 @ 6:19 pm