Nuance, the company behind Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition products and Apple's Siri voice assistant, has released a software developer's kit and a set of APIs that enterprise clients can use to integrate voice controls into their Android and iOS apps. The new platform, known as Nina, differs from Siri since Cupertino's voice assistant doesn't currently work inside non-Apple applications.
All Things D recently had some hands-on time with Nina. The publication described the technology as bringing together what Nuance does best: speech recognition, text-to-speech, natural language understanding and voice-ID biometric technology. The service is designed with banks, insurance companies and other similar customer service businesses in mind where communication with the customer is key.
The Verge also spent some time with Nina, ultimately concluding that it's Siri for apps, which isn't exactly a bad thing. The banking app they took for a text drive reportedly lived up to Nuance's reputation in form and function. Furthermore, they noted that Nina's voice sounds a lot like Siri's but don't expect Apple to head to the court room since the two products are distinctly different in their application.
Nuance is making the SDK and APIs available to developers in the US, the UK and Australia. One of the first companies to take the technology for a spin is USAA, a financial services provider that primarily works with members of the US military and their families. USAA will be running a pilot program set to start later this month before introducing a public version early next year.