Nuance Communications, maker of Apple's Siri software, is reportedly in talks with Samsung Electronics and other buyers for a possible sale.
Nuance is an American computer software technology corporation based in Burlington, Mass., that offers speech and imaging services such as language recognition, telephone software, medical transcription software, optical character recognition, and desktop imaging software. It also develops software for the military and the government. One of its popular creations includes Apple's iPhone 4S Siri voice recognition app.
According to sources who spoke with the Wall Street Journal, Nuance started the sales talk with potential buyers earlier this year. The source did not disclose the list of clients but cited Samsung as one of the prominent buyers. The South Korean company partnered with Nuance to integrate its voice and language technologies into some Samsung products including smartphones, TVs and tablets. Soon, the same technology will be integrated into the company's wearable devices.
Other companies that used Nuance's technology included Daimler, Nintendo, and Panasonic.
A potential buyout won't happen soon, and according to Mac Observer, the possible sale of Nuance to Samsung could present a problem for Apple. It is very unlikely for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company to still depend on Nuance's technology once its rival acquires it. Apple wasn't mentioned as a potential buyer, and it's unlikely that the company will pay up, since the tech giant doesn't usually spend more than a billion to buy a company. The only exception?Beats, which Apple acquired for $3.2 billion.
Meanwhile, after news of a possible sale broke out, Nuance's shares climbed by as much as 11 percent to $19.04 on Monday on the stock market. Reuters reported that the company's current market value is about $5.45 billion.
