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Nuance Releases Siri-Like API for Third-Party Mobile Apps

Monday August 6, 2012 2:40 PM PDT by Jordan Golson

Nuance, the company behind the speech recognition technology in the Siri and Dictation features on the iPhone, iPad and OS X, has released a new Siri-like API called Nina. Developers will be able to integrate Nina into their apps allowing the use of voice commands like Siri allows.

CNET has more information on the launch:

In order to differentiate their applications from others, developers will have the ability to customize their Nina integration with different voices. Nuance said today in a statement that it has inked a deal with USAA, the financial services provider for U.S. servicepeople, to integrate Nina into its mobile app. USAA plans to kick off with a pilot program in August and launch Nina to all members early next year.

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Nuance Nina Demo -- The Virtual Assistant for Mobile Customer Service Apps Nuance Enterprise

Watch on YouTube

Top Rated Comments

186 months ago

Why hasn't Apple bought this company yet? I'd think that it would be worth it to keep the speech recognition out of the competitors hands.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

186 months ago

This is what we iPhone developers have been clamoring for -- an API to integrate Siri into our apps. Apple really dropped the ball by not making sure this was in place for iOS6. I know Apple has a "ten-year plan" for Siri, but the market seems to be moving faster than they are. I think their biggest mistake was not buying Nuance in the first place. I really don't understand why they were satisfied with licensing it and thus allowed their competitors use the technology.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

186 months ago

Nuance is no where as important as people think it is. While it is true that Siri uses Nuance's voice recognition technology, the "magic" behind Siri is the algorithms that convert phrases to understandable search terms and responses. If Apple had any plans to buy Nuance they would have done it awhile ago, before Nuance like doubled in market cap (as a result of Siri). So while Nuance's technology is not a dime a dozen, it is not important enough to acquire it to prevent it from being used by competitors like Google (Google has in house voice recognition btw).

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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