Vlingo launches with new voice interface for phones

Vlingo Corporation launches today with a beta version of a new voice technology for mobile phones. Vlingo Mobile is a voice-based interface for phones based on new technology developed by the company.  Vlingo was founded by speech expert Mike Phillips, formerly of Nuance, and the company recently recruited Dave Grannan, former GM at Nokia.  These people know speech and mobile phones and the demo they have posted of the speech interface in action is very exciting to me.  It is very impressive how the interface  understands natural language.  I have been saying for years that speech recognition will be the Next Big Thing (NBT) in mobile computing and Vlingo Mobile sure makes be believe that even more.  Complete press release after the jump.

Introducing vlingo:
A Breakthrough in Voice-Powered Interfaces for Mobile Phones

New Venture Backed by Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners
Unlocks Mobile Data Services with First-of-its-Kind Technology

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (August 21, 2007) – Vlingo Corporation launched today with a beta version of its voice-powered interface for mobile phones made possible by breakthrough speech recognition technology developed by the company. Freeing users from tedious triple-tapping to text, search or download mobile content from their phones, vlingo gives consumers control over the mobile Internet with the power of their voices. Users do not need to change how they speak or memorize a list of commands. They can say what they want, how they want, and vlingo delivers the results – word for word. For carriers and mobile application providers, vlingo unlocks the pent up demand for mobile data services across all applications, delivering unrealized revenue opportunities. See a demo at www.vlingomobile.com/demo <http://www.vlingomobile.com/demo> .

Founded by industry-pioneering speech scientist Mike Phillips (a co-founder of SpeechWorks, now Nuance, NASDAQ: NUAN) and John Nguyen, and funded by Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners, vlingo was created specifically to leverage these latest technical advancements in the mobile market. In April, the company recruited mobile industry veteran Dave Grannan, most recently a general manager at Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world’s largest mobile phone company, as CEO.

“Consumers haven’t completely embraced mobile data services yet for one simple reason – they’re being held hostage by 12 tiny keys,” said Grannan. “Vlingo removes this obstacle of the past by giving consumers control over their phones with the power of speech. By opening up the potential for these mobile data services, vlingo gives carriers and mobile application providers a quantum leap in usability and the corresponding revenue opportunities with the only voice user interface ‘plug in’ on the market.”

Vlingo’s voice-powered interface lets users speak or type into any vlingo-enabled text box on their mobile phones – giving them access to all the information, entertainment and communication applications offered through today’s mobile services. Vlingo is easy to use, offering:

• No  limits on what you can say. Until  now, even the most “advanced” speech-enabled applications force  the user to go through specific sets of steps or a series of commands to  accomplish a task (for example, for most 411 services, the user first must  speak the city/state and then the name of the business). By contrast, vlingo  has no application-specific grammars or scripted interactions. Vlingo lets  consumers say what they want, when they want.
• The most accurate system on the  market. Vlingo  gets better with use. The vlingo approach  takes into account what each user has spoken in the particular text box within  a particular application, and dynamically leverages this knowledge to  continually improve accuracy for that user, and the entire  community.
• The ability to  freely mix typing and talking. In  situations  where people prefer to enter text using the keypad on the phone, vlingo allows  them to freely move between keypad entry and speech  entry.
• Simple API for application  integration. The vlingo technology makes use  of a lightweight library, which can run on the majority of 3G and multi-media  enabled phones to allow easy integration into a wide range of  applications.

Leveraging a new technology called adaptive Hierarchical Language Models (HLMs), vlingo’s one-of-a-kind approach allows carriers and mobile application providers to quickly and inexpensively voice-enable any application – without custom engineering or in-house speech expertise. Unlike conventional voice recognition technologies that require individual purpose-built applications and rely on constrained grammars and scripted interactions, vlingo’s open approach eliminates a traditionally costly and intensive manual effort. This advancement allows mobile application providers and carriers to integrate speech into any existing application with ease and at a low cost. As a result, consumers get quick, easy and accurate access to mobile applications, which translates into new revenue streams.

How it Works
The vlingo beta is currently available direct to consumers on the vlingo web site. Simply go to www.vlingomobile.com <http://www.vlingomobile.com/>  and click on the download tab.

Backed by Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners, vlingo secured $6.5 million in Series A financing. As part of the financing, Izhar Armony, general partner for Charles River Ventures; Robert Davoli, managing director with Sigma Partners; and Jeff  Dunn, former COO of the Nickelodeon Networks group and chief executive of Nickelodeon Film and Enterprises joined vlingo’s board of directors.

Why tap when you can talk? Find out for yourself at www.vlingomobile.com <http://www.vlingomobile.com/> .

Comments

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I just watched the two minute video demo; very impressive. It's amazing how quick the app is able to take your speech, send it to the transcription servers and then return the text.

[Charlie Thomas]

James, I've been thinking how curious it is that while a lot of the UMPC's either can run speech software, or may have it built in (Vista), I can't remember anyone other than Kevin doing a demo of using it. I must confess that I went out and bought Dragon 9.0 for my Q1-P and I have yet to use it for anything.

Thanks,

Charlie Thomas

[BMW Parts]

My friend got this....It is a new service that lets you test voice-activated controls for just about every aspect of your phone.It works by converting your voice to text. This downloadable application doesn’t limit itself to just one tool on your phone, like saying someone’s name in your address book. You can use speaking technology for nearly all the functions on your phone, from text messaging to finding a song or a local restaurant, and directions on a Yahoo map. Vlingo can do this because it’s not limited to the dictionary or existing applications on your phone. This is great!