Microsoft to buy Tellme. Is this next generation voice mobile search?

by: admin Wednesday, March 14th, 2007

Rating: Tellme

I have said it time and time again. Voice is the killer service on mobile. But is voice search king?
Personally, asking the phone questions or to find people; I find all a bit embarrassing.

Some people might like it but after the novelty wears off will voice search be used anywhere apart form in the car or by the visually impaired?

Voice portals were launched in 2000 and flopped. Apart from in the US where has push to talk been successful? Some services are killer voice services but others are not.

Microsoft believes that voice search will be king – hence its purchase of Tellme.

Tellme is luckily more than a voice portal and does more than simply find people, names or addresses in the style of a voice directory. Tellme is a voice service platform that offers a number of voice access services from banking to package tracing. These services are the way in which Microsoft can utilize Tellme and use voice to its advantage.

Microsoft can re-create mobile voice search and local directory search services with its acquisition on Tellme. For example, instead of offering mere click to call directory services; Microsoft will be able to serve the enterprise and offer business to business package tracing, community and local packages using voice not only to initiate but to fulfill a search query. For example, as local search and voice integrate users will not need to merely ask to find a company; but can ask to listen to comments left by other users on the company and even send an mail message to the user using voice. This will create an altogether more natural mobile phone and search experience where WAP and search is replaced with voice and query.

But let’s not get carried away. It’s still very early days and even the best voice solutions often fall flat when used on the bus.

From the press release:
“We’ve made great strides in speech technologies, but have only
scratched the surface of what is possible,” said Jeff Raikes, president of
the Microsoft Business Division. “The acquisition of Tellme will bolster
Microsoft’s existing speech capabilities, bringing both immediate and
longer-term value to our customers and partners.”

“Tellme was founded with the idea that anyone should be able to simply
say what they want and get it from any device, starting with the phone,”
said Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Tellme. “Now, with Microsoft, we’ll
be able to extend that vision to millions of businesses and consumers
around the world.”

More info: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2007/0004546179&EDATE=