Wozniak says he was wrong about Nuance/Apple deal

NEW YORK: Retired Apple Inc co-founder Steve Wozniak said he was "totally wrong" in recently suggesting the iPhone maker had bought speech-recognition software maker Nuance Communications Inc. 



Nuance's shares had touched a 2-1/2-year high on Tuesday, after TVDeck.com posted a video showing Wozniak saying Apple bought Nuance, both companies had declined to comment.

Nandan Amladi, Deutsche Bank analyst said "Nuance licenses its technology to many vendors including competitors to Apple. By acquiring Nuance, its value goes down because its competitors would stop licensing Nuance" .

 Massachusetts-based Nuance had posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Monday, helped by strong revenue at its health care and mobile units.

After rising as high as $19.19 on Tuesday, Nuance stock later pared some gains to trade 3.5 percent higher at $17.72.