Robert Scoble reports that Apple has purchased Siri, a company that has developed a free personal assistant application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Selected as the Most Innovative Web Technology in a contest at this year's SXSW festival, Siri offers automated personal assistant services by integrating a rapidly growing number of third-party services such as OpenTable, FlightStats, and Google Maps with voice-recognition technology from Nuance Communications.
Scoble discovered evidence (PDF) of the deal through a notification given by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announcing an early termination of the standard waiting period for corporate mergers to allow the transaction to proceed. Mashable and ReadWriteWeb are also confirming that they have heard about the acquisition from their sources.
Article Link: Apple Purchases iPhone 'Personal Assistant' Company Siri