The move will arm Apple with powerful new voice processing and natural
language technologies as it battles for smartphone dominance with Google,
developer of the fast-growing Android operating system.
"There is an Apple versus Google element to this," said Charles Golvin,
analyst with Forrester Research. "Apple valued this technology and wanted to
keep it out of the Android world."
Siri allows users dictate requests into their phones and then delivers results
from a choice of websites. For example, a user can say "Find me a table for
two at an Italian restaurant tonight," and Siri will bring up available
reservations from Opentable.com.
As well as developing a sophisticated method for making sense of voice
commands and retrieving relevant information, Siri had also established
relationships with prominent internet services, such as MovieTickets.com and
Taxi Magic, aimed at fulfilling e-commerce needs for users on the move.
This model of task-oriented mobile computing fits into the vision Steve Jobs,
Apple chief executive, recently laid out. "On a mobile device, search is not
where it’s at, not like on the desktop," he said at the launch of the new
iPhone operating system. "[People are] using apps to get to data on the
internet, not [for] generalised search."
The deal was disclosed through a pre-merger announcement from the Federal
Trade Commission on Tuesday and was expected to close soon. Its terms were
not released.
The acquisition is the latest in a buying spree for Apple which recently
bought Intrinsity, a Texas chip maker. The deal closed last month and was
announced on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.
In January, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising network.
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