Apple moves into voice technology sector with Siri

Apple yesterday purchased Siri, a US start-up that recently unveiled an application for the iPhone that allows users to complete complex tasks using simple voice commands.

The move will arm Apple with powerful new voice processing and natural language technologies as it battles for smartphone dominance with Google, developer of the fast-growing Android operating system.

"There is an Apple versus Google element to this," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Apple valued this technology and wanted to keep it out of the Android world."

Siri lets users dictate requests into their phones and then delivers results from an array of websites . For example, a user can say "Find me a table for two at an Italian restaurant tonight," and Siri will bring up available reservations from Opentable.com.

In addition, Siri had also established relationships with a host of prominent internet services, such as MovieTickets.com and Taxi Magic, aimed at fulfilling e-commerce needs for users on the go.

This model of taskoriented mobile computing fits into the vision that Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, recently laid out . "On a mobile device, search is not where it's at, not like on the desktop," he said at the launch of the new iPhone operating system. "[People are] using apps to get to data on the internet, not [for] generalised search."

The deal was disclosed through a pre-merger announcement from the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday and was expected to close soon. Terms of the deal were not released.

The acquisition is the latest in a buying spree for Apple which recently bought Intrinsity, a chipmaker based in Texas. The deal closed last month and was announced on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.

In January, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless , a mobile advertising network, after losing out to Google in a bid to buy AdMob, a rival ad service that Google acquired for $750m last year .

Despite the growing rivalry between the two companies, Apple and Google remain close partners, with Google products enmeshed on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Mr Glovin said the acquisition of Siri was part of a gradual distancing between the two companies as Apple develops and acquires more technologies that compete with Google. "What we are going to see Apple do is to loosen those reliances and ties on Google," he said.