Is speech recognition ready for prime time?
Speech recognition is a very, very complex technology. A lot of research has been done on the topic, and a lot more needs to be done. Dictation is very hard, very complicated. What we’ve done is take the parts that are ready and use them. Our speech-search technology doesn’t require users to train the system to their voices. Do people want speech recognition on their cell phones? Absolutely. Most of the people who use our system stop using menu-based search. The problem with systems that run on the phone (such as those using speech recognition to dial from a phone’s contact list) is that the phone has a very small processor that’s not very powerful. Our system runs on the network, using very powerful dual-core Xenon processors. How often do you get a new phone? Every three months I change my phone. I have a Nokia phone now that’s a BlackBerry replica. It has a keyboard for e-mail. But the thing I can’t live without is a speech-search locator service for when I travel. If I want to find
