5 ms·

Siri bought by Apple

75 points by cwilson 16y ago

hubb 16y ago
i hadn't heard of the app until this post, so i looked it up. the demo video is impressive and (the ending) is pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpjpVAB06O4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpjpVAB06O4
cwilson 16y ago
Looks like Apple wants to improve voice control on the iPhone!
- paulgb 16y ago
  Siri seems to be using Nuance (http://www.nuance.com/ http://www.nuance.com/) for speech recognition, so Apple doesn't seem to have bought any of the actual speech recognition technology.
  - edster 16y ago
    Siri uses Nuance, but loads it with it's own vocabulary. But you are correct, Apple would not acquire Siri for this reason. I think the real reason is the ip in this area and the natural language processing built into the server.
  - cwilson 16y ago
    I don't specifically mean speech recognition (although that could use an improvement), but some of the other features Siri would bring to that specific part of the iPhone. Good point though.
hockeybias 16y ago
I wonder if this means the end to Siri apps on Android?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- acangiano 16y ago
  I don't see Apple allowing an Android release of such an innovative product.
stcredzero 16y ago
So is "the API web" that Robert is referring to the new, more practical take on "the semantic web?" The hazy parts of the semantic web being replaced with programmers writing apps to piece together information from APIs, of course.
- look_lookatme 16y ago
  This was my first thought when I realized Siri is like an agent in semweb-speak. Does anyone know of any Google acquisitions in this space? Aardvark comes to mind, but it wasn't an autonomous system... perhaps their NLP work was state of the art? Any other startups working on this kind of stuff?
  - marc44 16y ago
    Back in October, SIRI's execs admitted that they had problems handling access to more than 6 APIs at one time due to "cross talk" problems with the NLP. So, they face what we all do with NLP when an "agent" has to handle too much. The value here is in applying SIRI to very small one-off Apps to make them more intelligent. Yes, other startups are definitely working in this space -- and, it's important to note that SIRI is only a licensed technology, not a proprietary technology, whereas other companies have wholly owned IP. If you search for AI and AI, mobile, Interactive Conversation, Mobile and Retail to mobile, you'll probably find the Others working in this area.
vaksel 16y ago
I looked on Google finance and there is no news about this: http://www.google.com/finance?q=siri http://www.google.com/finance?q=siri
- cwilson 16y ago
  Techcrunch just posted about it as well: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/apple-buys-virtual-personal-assistant-startup-siri/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/apple-buys-virtual-personal...
  - vaksel 16y ago
    oh I see....this is Siri...not Sirius Radio...my bad
    - vinhboy 16y ago
      LOL... Apple buy Sirius Radio.. now that would be hilarious...
cwilson 16y ago
Is this the first app-related acquisition by Apple?
- ugh 16y ago
  It will be interesting to see whether this is about the app (i.e. implementing similar functionality somewhere in the iPhone OS or even offering it as a extra download) or about the technology (i.e. improving voice control). I bet it’s rather more the last thing.
  - cwilson 16y ago
    It's definitely one of the following three and/or all of them: 1. The app itself 2. Technology 3. Talent
    - hockeybias 16y ago
      Astute! :)
  - bbhacker 16y ago
    I don't think it is about the technology (improving voice control) because as you can see in the video the speech recognition is from Nuance. My guess is that it is about the integration of all these webservices and APIs and the agent behind it. There is some research going on at Stanford about this, here is a presentation http://logic.stanford.edu/talks/Wizard/ http://logic.stanford.edu/talks/Wizard/
- inovica 16y ago
  iTunes itself came from an app acquisition. True, not an iPhone app, but they do purchase small companies to take the technology/people
  - covercash 16y ago
    SoundJam MP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP
bond 16y ago
That's a really great app. Congrats to the team.
matthavener 16y ago
This plus the leaked facebook integration makes me think Apple's going to try to branch out from its walled-garden semantic database (mobileme, mail.app, etc integration) and into a more open integration of popular services (facebook, yelp, gmail, opentable, etc).
CoryMathews 16y ago
I'm a bit confused about why they purchased Siri. I don't see anything truly groundbreaking about the app(I'm not saying its a bad app (I have never used it)). Nothing that apple would see worth buying at least. As noted by paulgb siri uses Nuance (http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/preferred.asp http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/pr...) for speech recognition so they must not be buying it for better speech recognition. (assuming this statement is correct) Siri does not seem to have anything that Apple could not have just reproduced. Apple could have paid a fraction (assuming the $200mil this author estimates) to write the app and then just banned siri from the app store as reproducing existing features..
- troystribling 16y ago
  Siri is based on natural language processing technology developed by the DARPA CALO AI Project http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_stealth_startup_siric.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_stealth_startu..., http://caloproject.sri.com/about/ http://caloproject.sri.com/about/. There is more to it than speech recognition. I have used it and it has acceptable performance in recognizing simple tasks verbally.
- siong1987 16y ago
  The argument that Apple could have paid a fraction to write the app is fundamentally false. If you look at all the acquisitions happened between Google recently, how many of them Google can build with a fraction of the money they have paid for? And, that's why a good programmer produces 10x more value that a normal programmer. But, how to hire a good programmer? Acquisition is definitely one of the methods to hire a good programmer.
- jsz0 16y ago
  It took them 3 OS versions to introduce a cruddy voice control feature so maybe they just weren't confident with what they had in-house.
dave1619 16y ago
Apple is probably wanting the semantic analysis technology behind Siri, which is supposedly pretty amazing. The natural language processing is probably something they're interested in too. They will probably integrate Siri's functions into the iPhone to expand into a personal assistant-like function. For example, they can add a "speak" button to the search page of the iPhone, and have users search through their phone (contacts, etc) or ask the iPhone a question, "What movies are playing around me?" They need this functionality to compete with Android, especially with the new Android versions having voice search and integrated turn-by-turn. I can see Apple developing their own voice recognition technology and not using Nuance. I think Apple can do a better job than them. And it makes sense for Apple to integrate turn-by-turn directions somehow, just to compete with Android. They could allow Google to provide turn-by-turn on the iPhone, but I don't think they want iPhone users that dependent on Google. So many iPhone users are already using Google for mail, calendar, contacts, RSS reader, etc. Apple needs to find a way to pull people away from reliance on Google and be more connected with their services.
jonknee 16y ago
I deleted Siri off my phone a couple of days ago (had it since launch). I used it a few times with fairly poor results and ended up finding Google a whole lot more useful. Maybe I was using it wrong or had unrealistic expectations.

75 points by cwilson 16y ago

hubb 16y ago

i hadn't heard of the app until this post, so i looked it up. the demo video is impressive and (the ending) is pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpjpVAB06O4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpjpVAB06O4

cwilson 16y ago

Looks like Apple wants to improve voice control on the iPhone!

paulgb 16y ago
Siri seems to be using Nuance (http://www.nuance.com/ http://www.nuance.com/) for speech recognition, so Apple doesn't seem to have bought any of the actual speech recognition technology.
- edster 16y ago
  Siri uses Nuance, but loads it with it's own vocabulary. But you are correct, Apple would not acquire Siri for this reason. I think the real reason is the ip in this area and the natural language processing built into the server.
- cwilson 16y ago
  I don't specifically mean speech recognition (although that could use an improvement), but some of the other features Siri would bring to that specific part of the iPhone. Good point though.

hockeybias 16y ago

I wonder if this means the end to Siri apps on Android?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
acangiano 16y ago
I don't see Apple allowing an Android release of such an innovative product.

stcredzero 16y ago

So is "the API web" that Robert is referring to the new, more practical take on "the semantic web?" The hazy parts of the semantic web being replaced with programmers writing apps to piece together information from APIs, of course.

look_lookatme 16y ago
This was my first thought when I realized Siri is like an agent in semweb-speak. Does anyone know of any Google acquisitions in this space? Aardvark comes to mind, but it wasn't an autonomous system... perhaps their NLP work was state of the art? Any other startups working on this kind of stuff?
- marc44 16y ago
  Back in October, SIRI's execs admitted that they had problems handling access to more than 6 APIs at one time due to "cross talk" problems with the NLP. So, they face what we all do with NLP when an "agent" has to handle too much. The value here is in applying SIRI to very small one-off Apps to make them more intelligent. Yes, other startups are definitely working in this space -- and, it's important to note that SIRI is only a licensed technology, not a proprietary technology, whereas other companies have wholly owned IP. If you search for AI and AI, mobile, Interactive Conversation, Mobile and Retail to mobile, you'll probably find the Others working in this area.

vaksel 16y ago

I looked on Google finance and there is no news about this: http://www.google.com/finance?q=siri http://www.google.com/finance?q=siri

cwilson 16y ago
Techcrunch just posted about it as well: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/apple-buys-virtual-personal-assistant-startup-siri/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/28/apple-buys-virtual-personal...
- vaksel 16y ago
  oh I see....this is Siri...not Sirius Radio...my bad
  - vinhboy 16y ago
    LOL... Apple buy Sirius Radio.. now that would be hilarious...

cwilson 16y ago

Is this the first app-related acquisition by Apple?

ugh 16y ago
It will be interesting to see whether this is about the app (i.e. implementing similar functionality somewhere in the iPhone OS or even offering it as a extra download) or about the technology (i.e. improving voice control). I bet it’s rather more the last thing.
- cwilson 16y ago
  It's definitely one of the following three and/or all of them: 1. The app itself 2. Technology 3. Talent
  - hockeybias 16y ago
    Astute! :)
- bbhacker 16y ago
  I don't think it is about the technology (improving voice control) because as you can see in the video the speech recognition is from Nuance. My guess is that it is about the integration of all these webservices and APIs and the agent behind it. There is some research going on at Stanford about this, here is a presentation http://logic.stanford.edu/talks/Wizard/ http://logic.stanford.edu/talks/Wizard/
inovica 16y ago
iTunes itself came from an app acquisition. True, not an iPhone app, but they do purchase small companies to take the technology/people
- covercash 16y ago
  SoundJam MP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP

bond 16y ago

That's a really great app. Congrats to the team.

matthavener 16y ago

This plus the leaked facebook integration makes me think Apple's going to try to branch out from its walled-garden semantic database (mobileme, mail.app, etc integration) and into a more open integration of popular services (facebook, yelp, gmail, opentable, etc).

CoryMathews 16y ago

I'm a bit confused about why they purchased Siri. I don't see anything truly groundbreaking about the app(I'm not saying its a bad app (I have never used it)). Nothing that apple would see worth buying at least. As noted by paulgb siri uses Nuance (http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/preferred.asp http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/editions/pr...) for speech recognition so they must not be buying it for better speech recognition. (assuming this statement is correct) Siri does not seem to have anything that Apple could not have just reproduced. Apple could have paid a fraction (assuming the $200mil this author estimates) to write the app and then just banned siri from the app store as reproducing existing features..

troystribling 16y ago
Siri is based on natural language processing technology developed by the DARPA CALO AI Project http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_stealth_startup_siric.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_stealth_startu..., http://caloproject.sri.com/about/ http://caloproject.sri.com/about/. There is more to it than speech recognition. I have used it and it has acceptable performance in recognizing simple tasks verbally.
siong1987 16y ago
The argument that Apple could have paid a fraction to write the app is fundamentally false. If you look at all the acquisitions happened between Google recently, how many of them Google can build with a fraction of the money they have paid for? And, that's why a good programmer produces 10x more value that a normal programmer. But, how to hire a good programmer? Acquisition is definitely one of the methods to hire a good programmer.
jsz0 16y ago
It took them 3 OS versions to introduce a cruddy voice control feature so maybe they just weren't confident with what they had in-house.

dave1619 16y ago

Apple is probably wanting the semantic analysis technology behind Siri, which is supposedly pretty amazing. The natural language processing is probably something they're interested in too. They will probably integrate Siri's functions into the iPhone to expand into a personal assistant-like function. For example, they can add a "speak" button to the search page of the iPhone, and have users search through their phone (contacts, etc) or ask the iPhone a question, "What movies are playing around me?" They need this functionality to compete with Android, especially with the new Android versions having voice search and integrated turn-by-turn. I can see Apple developing their own voice recognition technology and not using Nuance. I think Apple can do a better job than them. And it makes sense for Apple to integrate turn-by-turn directions somehow, just to compete with Android. They could allow Google to provide turn-by-turn on the iPhone, but I don't think they want iPhone users that dependent on Google. So many iPhone users are already using Google for mail, calendar, contacts, RSS reader, etc. Apple needs to find a way to pull people away from reliance on Google and be more connected with their services.

jonknee 16y ago

I deleted Siri off my phone a couple of days ago (had it since launch). I used it a few times with fairly poor results and ended up finding Google a whole lot more useful. Maybe I was using it wrong or had unrealistic expectations.