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Apple prepares to pull Evi from the App Store

Evi, the artificial intelligence app that was introduce in January, 2012, is preparing to be pulled off the Apple store due to too many similarities with Siri.
Written by Ina Muri, Weekend Editor

Evi, the Siri-like iPhone and Android app, is gong to be pulled from the iTunes App Store, TechCrunch reports from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Apple has approved versions of Evi for the App Store many times, but on Friday evening True Knowledge received a call from Apple representative Richard Chipman saying that Apple is going to pull Evi from the store because it was took similar to Siri.

True Knowledge launched the artificial intelligence app in January, 2012, and all though Siri and Evi do not use the same search engine, they both use the same Nuance's voice recognition technology. The Evi app appear confusingly similar to Siri, but their functions have a few differences. Evi is unable to do tasks like adding information to your calendar, but unlike Siri, Evi  will provide you a list of recopies with web links if you ask her " how do I make and apple pie." Siri, if you ask her the same question, will ask you whether or not you want to search the web to find and answer.

The rule being cited for pulling the app is number 8.4 in the App Store's T&Cs where it says that "apps which appear confusingly similar to an existing Apple product or advertising theme will be rejected."

"I don't think it takes too much of a leap of the imagination to realize that 'confusingly similar' is code for 'competitive with', and that all the user and press reviews along the lines of 'now you don't need to buy a 4S have resulted in in a change of heart from Apple" William Tunsall-Pedoe, the CEO of True Knowledge, told TechCrunch.

Right now, about 200,000 Apple users have already purchased the app without the ability to get updates. Evi is still on Apple's App Store, and although iPhone users will not be able to continue using Evi the app will still available for Android users.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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