Amazon Acquired Siri-Competitor ‘Evi’ For $26 Million?

According to a report from TechCrunch, Amazon has acquired natural language search platform Evi for $26 million. Originally, the Evi app was distributed through the App Store, but Apple had threatened to delete the app over similarities to Siri. However, later the company said that it would "work with" the developer to reduce similarities. Evi was first launched in early 2012 and it is still available on the App Store as a free download. The report said:

TechCrunch understands from sources that the company has been sold to Amazon for $26 million. However, calls to Amazon PR, backers Octopus Ventures and the founders of Evi have ben met with a stoney silence. A spokesperson for Octopus told us: “On this occasion Octopus will decline to comment on this specific portfolio company”.

The company behind Evi True Knowledge licensed the same Nuance’s voice recognition technology that is used in Siri and offers an array of data that appears to compare favorably with Siri’s abilities.

Amazon has several possible uses for Evi, including implementing the service in its Kindle Fire or a possible Amazon phone.