Siri's Voice Can Be Heard In Nuance's Guidance

The brightest light in Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) quarterly earnings report came from sales of its iPhone 4S, whose most defining feature is the voice recognition assistant Siri. The phone's eye popping growth, particularly in Asia where it launched in January, was likely behind Nuance's (NASDAQ:NUAN) upside guidance issued on April 26th. Of course, consumer sales to OEMs like Apple still account for less revenue than Nuance's healthcare division, which is riding a wave higher in medical transcription. But, voice driven consumer electronics are increasingly important to Nuance's growth story. Following the launch of the 4S last fall, phones at Nuance were likely lit up by manufacturers looking to close the gap with Apple. In Nuance's Q4 earnings call, CEO Paul Ricci described interest in its solutions as "unprecedented".