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The New York Times reports in Friday’s edition that Google’s iPhone app will be updated with voice search capability. If you recall, the launch of Goog411 in 2007 ushered in the era of mobile voice search. Google tells the Times that data collection from the Goog411 project helped create this new iPhone service.
With the new Google iPhone app, you’ll be able to speak your search query into the phone rather than having to type it out. Here is what happens after you do so:
“The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine.
The search results, which may be displayed in just seconds on a fast wireless network, will at times include local information, taking advantage of iPhone features that let it determine its location.”
The Times article says Google’s updated iPhone app should be available Friday. It’s a free update, and Google expects to make the voice search feature available on other phones, too.
(Note: don’t miss our guide on how to get more traffic to your site by making it iPhone-friendly)
Microsoft’s Live Search mobile client app has offered voice for some time, but it’s limited to mostly local categories. Microsoft also owns Tellme, which offers both the free directory assistance alternative 800-555-Tell and an app for BlackBerry that is voice powered. Microsoft also separately operates 1-800-Call-411.
Among the range of “voice search” and free directory assistance alternatives services now in the market, mobile Cha Cha is noteworthy because it allows users to ask any question, essentially full web search, not just “what city what listing.” It also uses humans behind the scenes to disambiguate and answer queries. Cha Cha has said that some of its heaviest users are doing query volumes that mirror search activity levels on the desktop. Hypothetically the more queries, the more ads — potentially. Some Guides are making up to $4,000 per month.
Note: if you elect to sign up to Cha Cha, please the e-mail address montydad5000 at yahoo dot com as your referral. Yep, I’m a happy guide myself.
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3 Comments Received
November 16th, 2008 @12:14 am
People don’t do research on an iphone. They do it on their desktop or notebook or UMPC. I found some voice recognition software named Tazti speech recognition that actually is a free download and performs voice searches of Google, Yahoo, MSN, Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay and many other websites. It also lets me log into and navigate Facebook and Myspace by talking to my PC. tazti also lets me control my iTunes music player bu talking to my PC. It really works well.
Here’s their youtube demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1tt_aeIAM8
tazti is a free download from http://www.tazti.com
November 17th, 2008 @2:47 pm
I can’t help but wonder what’s the point of a directory assistance service on an iPhone, or for that matter on any phone that has a web browser — you need a number, you find it online. Even if the Google # is somehow faster (which it probably isn’t), it would be hard to change people’s behavior of looking for info through the web.
There’s also the basic problem that the Google # has only business listings, rather than the full listings that 1-800-FREE411 has (business, gov’t, residential).
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