Apple's New Data Center Focus of Nuance Voice Recognition Partnership?
Late last week, we
reported on claims that Apple is in discussions with voice recognition firm Nuance Communications regarding some sort of partnership presumably linked to rumors that Apple is integrating significant voice capabilities into iOS 5.
TechCrunch now follows up to report that the deal seems to revolve around Apple utilizing Nuance's technology in its new North Carolina data center to drive centrally-hosted voice services. The partnership is said to likely be introduced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) early next month.
In digging into the information about the relationship between the two companies, we had heard that Apple might actually already be using Nuance technology in their new (but yet to be officially opened) massive data center in North Carolina. Since then, we've gotten multiple independent confirmations that this is indeed the case. And yes, this is said to be the keystone of a partnership that Apple is likely to announce with Nuance at WWDC next month.
More specifically, we're hearing that Apple is running Nuance software - and possibly some of their hardware - in this new data center. Why? A few reasons. First, Apple will be able to process this voice information for iOS users faster. Second, it will prevent this data from going through third-party servers. And third, by running it on their own stack, Apple can build on top of the technology, and improve upon it as they see fit.
As was reported previously, Nuance is a leader in voice recognition technology and holds a number of key patents in the field, making Apple's interest in a partnership a natural fit given its acquisition of Siri last year and rumors of the company trying to incorporate aspects of voice recognition and artificial intelligence into its systems.
Popular Stories
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
Following its iPhone 16 event on Monday, Apple shared a PDF on its website with a list of all new features and changes coming with iOS 18. The list includes many features that were already announced, including Apple Intelligence, new customization options for the Home Screen and Control Center, a redesigned Photos app, several enhancements to the Messages app, a Passwords app, and more....
Following over three months of beta testing, iOS 18 will finally be widely released to the public this Monday, September 16. The update should be available to install tomorrow starting at around 10 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Eastern Time) in the Settings app under General → Software Update on the iPhone XS and newer. Below, we have highlighted eight key new features included in iOS 18, and...
Apple began accepting pre-orders for all four new iPhone 16 models today, and shipping estimates for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max on Apple's online store in the U.S. are already beginning to slip into October for many configurations. As of 6:45 a.m. Pacific Time, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max were facing a 2-4 week shipping delay for some configurations on Apple's online store, with...
iOS 18 will be released to the public on Monday, but the first Apple Intelligence features will not be available until iOS 18.1 is released in October. Apple Intelligence features will continue to roll out in iOS 18.2 and beyond, with the expected roadmap outlined below per Apple's website and rumors. Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 15 Pro model or any iPhone 16 model, and it will...
Apple will likely hold another event in October this year to announce new Macs and iPads. If so, it would be the fourth time in the last five years that Apple has held an event in October. Last year, Apple held a virtual event on Monday, October 30 to announce new MacBook Pro and iMac models with the M3 series of chips. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated...
Best Buy kicked off a new weekend sale today, and we've already covered all of the big savings you can find on M2 iPad Pro. In addition to these tablet deals, Best Buy has steep discounts on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Air, including a new all-time low price on the entry-level M3 512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro at $1,199.00 for My Best Buy Plus/Total members, down from $1,599.00. M3...
