Much of the critical technology is provided by Nuance Communications, a leader in speech recognition.

FORBES: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Could Lead to Apple's Downfall

Nuance Communications, the company that provides the technology that Siri runs on, was originally called Kurzweil Computer Products Inc.

FORBES: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence Could Lead to Apple's Downfall

Nuance Communications shares are trading sharply higher Monday morning on speculation that the speech recognition technology company could be an acquisition target for Apple.

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That turned up Nuance Communications (NUAN), which counts Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Samsung, Sony (SNE), FedEx (FDX), and On-Star among its exploding customer base.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

But then our busted patent system intervened in the form of a threatening phone call from the CEO of Nuance Communications (NUAN), a big voice recognition firm.

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Nuance Communications this afternoon announced a deal.

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Morgenthaler was the first VC investor in Siri and was a board member until Apple acquired it, as well as an investor and board member of Nuance Communications, the voice recognition software company whose technology also is used by Siri.

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