New technology is making the act of ordering pizza more seamless than ever.
Domino’s today officially debuted a virtual assistant named “Dom,” a more simple version of Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana that does one job pretty well: Order you pizza.
Domino’s apps now include the voice-enabled feature, which was developed by speech-recognition company Nuance Communications. I just tried using “Dom,” and he was pretty responsive, whether it was the green peppers I wanted on my large pizza or the extra bottle of Sprite I asked him to add to my order.
Domino’s notes that “Dom” can take orders for carryout or delivery, access saved orders, suggest additions, and find coupons. The company also included quotes from “Dom” in a press release today.
“My motherboard and fatherboard raised me right,” Dom said.
This isn’t the first time that technology and pizza have combined. Last year, Pizza Hut launched an Xbox app that brought its online ordering service to the Microsoft’s consoles, letting gamers order pizza, pasta, wings, breadsticks and other food from the pizza chain for delivery or pickup. In just four months, Pizza Hut sold $1 million worth of pizzas through the app.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts-based Nuance has recently been involved in talks with various suitors, including private equity firms and Samsung. The company bought Seattle startup Swype for $102.5 million in October 2011.
