Introduction
In a move that has gone largely unnoticed by the tech community, Apple acquired an automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology company called Novauris Technologies last year. Founded in 2002 by Melvyn Hunt, John Bridle, and Yoon Kim, Novauris had been developing its own large-vocabulary ASR technology for access to information stored locally on mobile devices or remotely on servers. The acquisition is a significant move for Apple, as it looks to improve Siri, the speech-based virtual assistant technology that comes pre-installed on Apple’s mobile devices.
The History of Novauris
Novauris was born out of Dragon Systems R&D U.K. Ltd., the British research subsidiary of Dragon Systems, a well-known voice dictation pioneer. The company began operations in March 2002 after reassembling almost all the former Dragon Systems U.K. R&D team. Founder Jim Baker funded the initial development work and originally owned the company, but Bridle and Hunt bought him out along with some help from private investors in September 2004. They then brought on Kim, who had been heading up TTS company NeoSpeech, as CEO.
The Acquisition
The acquisition of Novauris by Apple appears to have taken place last year, but it was not announced at the time. When reached for comment, Apple confirmed that "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Team Behind Novauris
Novauris’s founders were internationally known speech researchers, and key members while at Dragon Systems. Melvyn Hunt and John Bridle co-founded the company, with Yoon Kim joining as CEO in 2004. The team had a strong background in speech recognition technology, having worked on projects such as "DragonDictate" and "Dragon NaturallySpeaking." Novauris’s products already supported iOS and iPhone via its Embedded ASR (NovaSearch Compact) and Server ASR (NovaSearch Server) technologies.
The Technology Behind Novauris
Novauris had been developing its own large-vocabulary ASR technology for access to information stored locally on mobile devices or remotely on servers. The company’s products were designed to assist with navigation, search, and more within a device’s App Store. Novauris had offices in both the U.K. and U.S., with Yoon Kim currently based in Cupertino.
The Future of Speech Recognition
With the acquisition of Novauris, Apple is likely looking to improve Siri, its speech-based virtual assistant technology. The integration of Novauris’s ASR technology could lead to more accurate and efficient voice recognition, allowing users to interact with their devices in a more natural way.
Conclusion
Apple’s acquisition of Novauris Technologies is a significant move for the company, as it looks to improve its speech-based virtual assistant technology, Siri. The integration of Novauris’s ASR technology could lead to more accurate and efficient voice recognition, allowing users to interact with their devices in a more natural way.
Related Topics
- Apple
- Media & Entertainment
- Novauris
- Speech Recognition
- Startups
About the Author
Sarah Perez is a Consumer News Editor at TechCrunch. She has worked as a reporter for the company since August 2011 and has previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail, and software.
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