Apple secretly acquired speech-recognition software company Novauris Technologies to bolster its popular iPhone voice-assistant, Siri.
Apple Inc., the second largest smartphone making company in the world, is working on ways to improve its popular voice-assisting software found on iPhones with the help of a company that has expertise over speech-recognition technology. The Cupertino giant reportedly confirmed the acquisition of U.K.-based speech-recognition software company Novauris Technologies, according toTechCrunch. The details of the deal remain undisclosed.
According to the tech-centric news blog, the acquisition took place a year ago. TechCrunch confirmed the news by calling Novauris' U.K. offices where the company's co-founder Melvyn Hunt answered the phone, "Apple." He further disclosed that he and his entire team now worked for Apple and they no longer operated independently. But Novauris' official website does not show any indication of the acquisition.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Even so, the latest acquisition could only fit Siri's portfolio, which means Apple has been working on an update for iPhone's voice assistant. Novauris has a reliable background to support its proficiency in the voice-dictation space. The team behind the startup has worked for companies including Dragon Systems, which is a voice-dictation pioneer, Nortel, SRI, which launched Siri before Apple acquired it, Marconi and Aurix.
Novauris was originally founded by Jim Baker in March 2002 and later taken over by co-founders, Melvyn Hunt and John Bridle. Yoon Kim was then appointed as the company's CEO, he previously worked for TTS company NeoSpeech. The founders of Novauris were among the important batch of members at Dragon Systems, a company known for its work with "DragonDictate" and "Dragon NaturallySpeaking."
Apple has been on an acquisition spree in the past year, with 15 acquisitions in its last fiscal year. The tech giant had only 5 deals in the previous year. Apple spent $525 million in acquisitions in its last quarter, almost double than what it spent the previous year. Some of Apple's notable acquisitions include PrimeSense Ltd., the maker of motion-tracking chip technology, Topsy Labs Inc., a data-analytics firm and Broadmap, a mapping software company, Bloomberg reports.
