Siri co-founder Adam Cheyer exits Apple

The man behind Apple's voice recognition software Siri, has left the company, reported Bloomberg. Little details are known about the circumstances in which Adam Cheyer, Siri co-founder and Apple's former vice president of engineering left the Cupertino-based company.

Cheyer joined Apple in 2010 when Siri was acquired by Apple in a deal that is rumoured to have cost Apple more than $200 million. Another of Siri's three co-founders, Dag Kittlaus, left Apple in 2011, in order to be closer to family and focus on developing new ideas. Tom Gruber, the third co-founder, remains at Apple working in product design.

Bloomberg refers to "three people familiar with the situation" as the source of the news, they choose to remain unidentified, as the matter is confidential.

Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S last year and has received criticism from users owing to its performance. It is expected to be updated at Apple's event in San Francisco on Wednesday, where the company is likely to unveil a new iPhone. Apple's voice assistant is also likely to make its way to the new iPad as well, as the company releases its next software version, iOS 6.

Though Apple declined to comment on the situation, Cheyer has confirmed via an email to Xconomy that he has in fact left Apple, "some time ago" for "personal reasons." Cheyer further added that he has "no plans" regarding his professional life in the immediate future.