HTC Confirms Image of Siri Rival Is Just a Joke

The image that appeared on HTC's official Twitter page and subsequently went viral on the Internet led to speculations the Taiwanese could be prepping its own voice recognition software, similar to Samsung's S Voice and Apple's Siri. The report was made by Think Digit.

However, a follow-up tweet by HTC's Jeff Gordon clarified the image was fake and was designed for Pet Week.

"Correct, it's just a joke to cap off HTC's "pets week." No news cycles here. J," read the tweet.

"It looks like HTC has been having some fun this afternoon at the expense of blogs and HTC Android fans everywhere. After posting the photo there was a wave of comments, speculation, and posts popping up everywhere but it appears this was indeed a fake for "pet week" - confirmed by Jeff Gordon at HTC," explained Android Community.

Siri and S Voice have provided assistance to users since their launch on the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S3. The image that was posted on HTC's official Twitter page indicated that the company could come up with its own voice recognition software. Tech2 believes it could be a great addition to have onboard, since the company is expected to launch its next Sense User Interface (UI) in future.

"HTC's "Top Secret" new voice assistant was looking very similar to Siri and other options, being able to take appointments, share weather alerts and all that jazz but we have a feeling they'll just wait for Google's Assistant to arrive with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean," explained Android Authority.

Apart from Siri and S Voice, LG recently launched its intelligent voice recognition software named Quick Voice in Korea. It functions in a manner similar to Siri and S Voice - it lets users talk to their phone asking it to perform certain tasks like checking the weather, searching the web or making phone calls. Quick Voice uses natural language processing technique. Unlike Siri and S Voice, Quick Voice will not be restricted to a single smartphone; rather it will be added to the existing Optimus range of smartphones according to earlier reports at IBTimes UK.