Watson is IBM’s super-computer which the company has been using to crunch the huge amount of financial data and present intelligence solutions to companies such as Citigroup. Now, IBM intends to enter the mobile app realm by pitching Watson as a speech-based smart assistant.
However, this doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. Currently, Watson comprises of nearly a dozen servers and uses massive amounts of power. For now, this huge system simply can’t be reduced to a single app, even if the back-end work was to be done elsewhere just like Apple’s Siri servers.
But the IBM teams working on Watson are very hopeful with the future of this supercomputer. It has been revealed that the power consumption of Watson is “dropping like a stone” meaning the company may soon be able to bring its power consumptions levels to shockingly low levels.
While it will still take a while for Watson to reach the smartphone users in the form of an app, it certainly holds huge promise. Siri looks almost like a humble student compared to Watson who can answer some very advanced questions. For instance, you could ask Watson about the feasibility of business in a given area and it will give you a very appropriate answer, based on business history of the region and relevant feasibility reports.
This sheer genius of Watson comes from the fact that it can use huge amounts of data to procure its answers and solutions. IBM already offers business analytics solutions through Watson and intends to bolster the net worth of this particular revenue stream to $16 billion by 2015.
Source: Business Week
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