Apple's apparent acquisition last year of speech recognition company Novauris has left many in the tech world wondering what the move will mean for Microsoft and Google, both of whom have put financial backing behind similar projects. The battle is on once again among the big three over voice recognition software development.

The move, reportedly completed last year by Apple, was reported this week by TechCrunch, which said that although it has not been publicly announced yet, it shows Apple is ready to enter the fray and compete with Microsoft and Google over voice recognition development.

It is all part of Apple's expansion of Siri, the virtual personal assistant that is currently on iOS devices and systems. Apple has not confirmed the purchase, although TechCrunch did report that Novauris personnel have already become part of the Siri expansion team.

After TechCrunch reporter Sarah Perez reported that Novauris' office in the UK confirmed that the company is now part of Apple, Tech Times also questioned Novauris on the acquisition.

A well-informed Novauris employee told Tech Times that "we have been working under the Apple umbrella for months now, but we don't know why the purchase has gone public." The employee was speaking in an official capacity for Novauris.

The question now for Microsoft and Google is how Apple's expansion of voice recognition will change the playing field.

Neither company was ready to speak to Tech Times about the acquisition, saying their products are already among the top in the industry and that they did not feel Apple and the Novauris purchase would hurt their own voice products.

Microsoft's Cortana and Google Now appear to have taken off as the leading voice recognition software, with Apple's Siri still seeing a few hiccups as it attempts to break through, but the acquisition has others believing it could open the market and foster innovative efforts from all three companies to better-engage the public.

"What we are witnessing right now is competition. And for the tech world, that is a great thing, because it will translate into better products and better innovation at a quicker pace in order for the companies involved to maintain their edge over the competition," said tech analyst Mario Arndt, a German-born academic who has spent time in Silicon Valley researching market trends.

"Silicon Valley is a really fluid sector of the tech world and one that sees companies always trying to outdo their competition, so the Novauris acquisition could put some competition back into the voice recognition sector after it seemingly stalled for the past few months," he added.