Multimodal voice services – mobile’s hidden fruit?

 

Rich media services such as voice, barcodes, video are writing a new book for mobile services. But will the outcome be more like 1984 or The Wizard of Oz?

 

Until recently the thought of voice search, voice services and multi-modal was like sitting though my A level in Physics – painful.

 

I have been an avid hater of voice search. This is not my fault. As an early adopter and player in mobile the first mover services were, for want of another word, crap. Movidilo’s sponsorship of GoMo News has made me take a closer look at voice again and the promise of multimodal.

 

Saying that this month I stopped using my iPhone as much as usual and got out my Nokia N95 and Nokia N73.  I added Nuance’s voice services (Voice Control) to my devices and tried and tested the voice search services again.

 

I even got my old trusty HTC Windows Mobile out to test Microsoft’s voice search and I have had first hand experience of using the Yahoo! voice services. 

So, am I a converted voice fan?

Well, there is no short answer.  At first glance, I may have been a little sceptical on the whole voice search and discovery experience. The first ever test I did on Nuance Voice Control was terrible.

The second attempt last week was better, but even using Yahoo! and Microsoft services talking in to the phone or commanding the phone to produce a result for me is not something I feel comfortable with.  In fact, talking about Orwell, finding and requesting the phone find things I felt guilty for being overly lazy. I imagined Big Brother watching me and recording my every voice search and trying to manipulate it guessing my next move or search question.

 

But paranoia aside, the potential of voice in a query and multi-modal becomes more relevant when we focus on the disabled and visually impaired.

 

For example last week Nuance bought out an update of a new service specifically for the visually impaired. The service Talk & Zoom 4.0 was

 

“ designed to ensure that the blind and visually impaired community can take advantage of today’s sophisticated mobile devices – from being able to access a variety of features while on the phone to having the option of choosing the TTS that meets an individual’s needs,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile.  “So far the response to this latest version of TALKS&ZOOMS has been extremely positive, as we’re removing even more limitations of the traditional mobile phone to help ensure all consumers have access to the productivity and freedom that today’s mobility solutions provide.”

 

What I also found quite compelling from this Nuance service is the following:

 

·         SIM-Based Licensing:  TALKS&ZOOMS can now be licensed for a GSM SIM card, offering users the freedom to leverage the software on as many handsets as they like where the same SIM card is used.  

 

·         DAISY2Go Audio Book Player: TALKS&ZOOMS 4.0 includes DAISY2Go, a Digital Accessible Information SYstem’s (DAISY) text and audio book player that enables users to read content right from their mobile phone.  To learn more, visit www.daisy.org

 

·         Support for Quickword: TALKS&ZOOMS now includes the ability to leverage Quickword, enabling users to retrieve email documents and their attachments, read them, and even make edits right from their phones.   

 

 

The focus on the partially sighted was the turning point for me and my opinions on voice rich media services. In fact, this was the eye-opener for a suite of several 3.0 services that game changers should be looking at.

Vendors	Next Generation Services
Multi-media vendors	Should start looking at voice control and multimodal services for IPTV and mobile TV services.   A multi-modal channel menu could increase the user experience and also make several services such as TV, ebook or podcast services more accessible for the disabled.
Mobile barcode and Mobile Coupon vendors	There could be a great way of mobile multi-modal codes and savings here. Some mobile barcode companies are already experimenting with Twitter but mobile coupons that spoke could be a revolution.   I am not sure if there are any patents in this area but how innovative to have talking coupons and savings offers for the visually impaired on your mobile.   But that is just the start of the impact this could have on the mobile market – what about coupons that phone users to tell them they were going to expire?
Mobile Search providers	Just getting a search query with voice is an OK 2.0 service.  It works in the car, might impress your girlfriend on the first date but after that a bit tacky.   Moving the voice to multi-modal and offering visual user interfaces with voice is the way forward.