Amazon Preparing to Take on Apple's Siri with Acquisition of Speech Recognition Firm?

yap logoThe Atlantic reports that a Securities and Exchange Commission filing reveals Amazon has quietly acquired voice recognition firm Yap, perhaps signaling intentions to take on Apple and Google in the market.

Though the acquisition was apparently completed in September, no public announcement has been made by either company. The filing does not mention Amazon by name, but Yap merged with a company called "Dion Acquisition Sub" that just so happens to be headquartered at 410 Terry Avenue in Seattle, Washington, an Amazon.com building.

Yap had been working on a beta service for converting voicemail messages to text, but reportedly possesses a significant amount of intellectual property underlying speech recognition technology. The consumer voicemail transcription service was discontinued on October 20th.

Google has of course integrated voice recognition in some of aspects of its business, including a Google Search app for iOS, for some time. And Apple has made a high-profile entrance into the market with Siri on the iPhone 4S, a new virtual personal assistant that accepts voice input for conducting various tasks or retrieving information.

Amazon, which has long competed with Apple in a number of digital download markets, is now pushing into the mobile hardware market as well, building upon its successful Kindle offerings with the introduction of its new Android-based Kindle Fire tablet. While considerably smaller and cheaper than Apple's iPad and focused on tying into Amazon's existing services, the Kindle Fire is being seen as one of the strongest potential competitors for the iPad to yet emerge.

Top Rated Comments

cgc Avatar
148 months ago
Monkey see, monkey do. And all the Apple haters out there should rejoice, as the industry is moved forward. It's a win-win.

Step 1. Copy Apple
Step 2. Eat banana
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kimble3 Avatar
148 months ago
Voice Recognition

It's important to note that what makes Siri so different isn't the voice recognition, it's the AI behind it. Voice recognition is nothing new or particularly earth shattering and being able to parse voice input is only one small part of the equation. Amazon will still have a long way to go even with this acquisition...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guch20 Avatar
148 months ago


You mean copy Apple by BUYING tech from elsewhere? Who is Apple copying when they do that?

What don't people get...it's not that Apple was the first to have voice recognition or a personal digital assistant or whatever you want to label Siri as. The copying comes from the fact that none of these other leading tech visionaries thought it a good idea to have such a feature built into their phones/tablets until Apple did it and did it well.

Apple is never first, but they do get it right more often than not and when they do, all the others come out of the woodwork and act as though the features and products they are blatantly copying are somehow just natural progressions of technology that they were going to come out with anyway--they just happened to wait until Apple showed them the way.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bretm Avatar
148 months ago
Fire is not a mobile competitor. It doesn't have 3G. I just recently realized that an it really makes it kind of a weak product. Not much storage to download and take stuff with you, and no way to stream stuff on the road. Speech Recognition is done in the cloud, so it's kinda pointless on the device since there's no cloud available unless you're sitting at home or in a starbucks talking to your Kindle. I would doubt it has a mic. I know it's not for the kindle, but that's what these articles keep calling Amazon's foray into mobile devices, but it's the least mobile of ALL Amazon devices. It's meant to be used at home or at least somewhere with a wifi hotspot. MUSIC - I want in the car. MOVIES - I want a bigger screen or I want them in the CAR for the kids. Voice Recognition - I want with a MAP and in the CAR.

So I'm sure they'll have a future device in the works, but it won't be as competitive because it will have to be mobile and have a bigger, RETINA screen by then.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
propea Avatar
148 months ago
**User**
Yap, can you please read the 345th word in this book?

**Yap**
Why?? Just read it yourself bro.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clarkent5477 Avatar
148 months ago
:)

Monkey see, monkey do. And all the Apple haters out there should rejoice, as the industry is moved forward. It's a win-win.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Unified Volume Button and Mute Button

Monday March 20, 2023 8:33 am PDT by
As previously rumored, the next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a unified volume button and a mute button, according to leaked CAD images shared in a video on the Chinese version of TikTok and posted to Twitter by ShrimpApplePro. Instead of separate buttons for volume up and volume down, the iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have a single elongated button for...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 for iPhone Nearing Launch With These 5 New Features

Monday March 20, 2023 11:50 am PDT by
Apple says iOS 16.4 is coming in the spring, which began this week. In his Sunday newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the update should be released "in the next three weeks or so," meaning a public release is likely in late March or early April. iOS 16.4 remains in beta testing and introduces a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone. Below, we have recapped five new features ...
voice isolation

iOS 16.4 Adds Voice Isolation for Cellular Phone Calls

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:01 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 update that is set to be released to the public in the near future includes voice isolation for cellular calls, according to notes that Apple shared today. Apple says that Voice Isolation will prioritize your voice and block out the ambient noise around you, making for clearer phone calls where you can better hear the person you're chatting with and vice versa. Voice...
original iphone auction

Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction

Friday March 17, 2023 1:08 pm PDT by
A first-generation iPhone still sealed inside its box sold for $54,904 at auction, which is more than $54,000 over the original $599 price tag of the device when it was released in 2007. The original iPhone was put up for sale by RR Auction on behalf of a former Apple employee who purchased it back when it first came out. Back in February, an original, sealed iPhone sold for over $63,000,...
airpodsd 3 purple 4

iOS 16.4 Seemingly References New AirPods and AirPods Case

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:43 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 release candidate version that was provided to developers today appears to hint at a new set of AirPods that could be coming in the near future. According to @aaronp613, the beta features references to AirPods that have a model number of A3048 and an AirPods case with a model number of A2968. There have been no rumors that new AirPods are on the horizon, and it is early for...
iOS 16

Apple Seeds Release Candidate Versions of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 to Developers [Update: Public RC Available]

Tuesday March 21, 2023 10:25 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the launch of the fourth betas. The RCs mark the final version of the software that will be provided to the public in the near future. Registered developers are able to download the iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates...
google bard

Google Opens Up Access to Bard AI Chatbot

Tuesday March 21, 2023 4:23 pm PDT by
Google today began allowing users to sign up to use Bard, its AI-powered chatbot that rivals Microsoft's Bing chatbot. First announced back in February, Bard is an experimental conversational AI service for Google Search. Those interested in Bard can join Google's waitlist to get access, and some users have reported getting invitation emails just hours after signing up. There are a long list ...
smart monitor m8 samsung

Deals: Samsung's iMac-Like Smart Monitor M8 Drops to Lowest Price of Year So Far With $250 Discount

Monday March 20, 2023 8:27 am PDT by
Samsung today kicked off a special "Discover Samsung" event, which will be a week-long savings event focusing on Samsung monitors, smartphones, TVs, appliances, and more. While some deals will stick around the entire week (through March 26), others will refresh every day. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...