Audience, the company responsible for developing the EarSmart technology which powers Siri, has announced that Apple is “unlikely” to use the system in the next-generation iPhone.
Audience actually helped Apple develop part of the A5 processor, so that it could include a digital signal processor to remove background noise and secondary voices, as well as helping improve the Siri experience. However, it seems Apple doesn’t need the company’s help any more. Issuing a statement last night, Audience explained:
Audience sells processors and licenses its processor IP to Apple Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, OEM) for inclusion in the OEM’s mobile phones pursuant to a Master Development and Supply Agreement (MDSA). Pursuant to a statement of work under the MDSA, amended in March 2012, Audience developed and licensed a new generation of processor IP for use in the OEM’s devices…
Audience now believes that it is unlikely that the OEM will enable Audience’s processor IP in its next generation mobile phone. Audience is not aware of any intended changes by this OEM to its use of Audience’s processors or processor IP in prior generations of the OEM’s mobile phones.
Which sounds an awful lot like Apple is ditching Audience and not using its technology in the new iPhone. But… what will it do instead? At the moment it’s not clear what this means for sound processing or speech recognition in the new iPhone. Maybe Apple has lost interest in Siri or, more likely, they’re stepping up their game in a big way. We’ll find out for sure next week. [Audience via Ars Technica]