Friday, May 18, 2007

Speech technology will be the big winner in mobile Web growth

Everyone acknowledges that the fastest-growing sector on the Internet is the mobile Web. What is not often remarked is that there will be many difficulties in creating seamless experiences in surfing the web because of the competing standards and the diverse devices that are being used. Smart phones may seem attractive but using those tiny keys is challenging. Nevertheless since the world is on the go, the demand is there.

Speech technology is a very attractive proposition to help deliver that mobile Web experience. Just think of surfing to a voice portal or vortal as some are dubbing them. By simple voice commands, you can completely control what appears on that tiny screen. You wish to order something so you just keep talking. Voice recognition technology is already well understood: it’s just a question of refining the applications.

Two recent major acquisitions confirm this thinking. Microsoft has now completed the acquisition of Tellme Networks. The move represents a huge opportunity for Microsoft, says Forrester analyst Elizabeth Herrell. According to Datamonitor, worldwide sales for speech technology are more than $5 billion. Herrell expects that will only continue to explode.

More recently Nuance is in the process of acquiring Voicesignal Technologies. This will create an organization with broad resources, solutions and expertise that will satisfy the accelerating demand for speech-enabled mobile devices and services. Nuance expects to serve more than one billion consumers within the next three years with voice-based mobile solutions that allow people to simply and effectively navigate, retrieve and transact across the vast and growing universe of content and services available in mobile phones, automobiles and personal navigation devices.

Perhaps as a footnote, it should be clear that what works well in the mobile world can much more easily be applied in the static world. Voice recognition and speech technology can easily be applied to voice portals that you might access on your desktop PC. The same technology will see increasing application in the more successful call centers.

1 comment:

mahita said...

The fastest-growing sector on the Internet is the mobile Web .Speech technology is a very attractive proposition to help deliver that mobile Web experience . Voice recognition technology is already well understood .And growing universe of content and services available in mobile phones . The same technology will see increasing application in the more successful call centers.