While speaking today at the All Things D conference, Nuance CEO Paul Ricci confirmed that Nuance does indeed help power the voice recognition service for Siri.
Since Siri’s launch in 2011, many people assumed that Apple had formed a partnership with Nuance, but neither company has officially confirmed the relationship.
During the his interview, Ricci was asked whether it’s his company’s fault if the iPhone doesn’t understand a user’s voice. Ricci confirmed that Nuance does power the voice part of Siri, but the company is not involved in speech-recognition efforts with Google.
Ricci was also asked whether Nuance-powered apps like Siri are cloud-based or local-based applications:
“It depends on the application. Some smart phones are a hybrid. Cars have to have a local component. On the iPhone, for example, it’s both. Siri is cloud-based, but there’s some embedded bits to it as well.”
While Siri is still struggling to get a foothold with users, Ricci said he was very optimistic about what’s in store for the future, especially in the area of health care. Apple is expected to reveal new features for Siri alongside iOS 7 at WWDC on June 10th.
Source: ATD
