How Speech Technologies Will Transform Mobile Use

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. The Emergence of Speech as a Mobile Platform
  3. Market Trends
    1. Speech-Enabled Mobile Apps Gaining Acceptance
    2. What’s Driving Speech as a Mobile Platform?
  4. An Overview of Emerging SaaP Applications
    1. Current Speech-Equipped Devices are Merely the Tip of the Iceberg
    2. SaaP Enables New Application Interaction
  5. Speech Recognition: The Foundation of Speech-Enabled Apps
    1. Constrained vs. Natural Language Processing
    2. Automated vs. Hybrid Speech Recognition
    3. Applications for Speech Recognition
    4. Special Case: Voice Activation
  6. Conclusions
  7. About immr

1. Summary

Mobile is enjoying what may be called a virtuous spiral, driven by compelling new devices, innovative new applications and faster networks that are making mobile broadband a reality. At the center of this phenomenon are user-friendly interfaces, especially the touch screen, which have fueled adoption and use of mobile apps. While much improved, mobile use still demands considerable attention — for example, viewing displays, entering text, navigating through the UI, etc. Advances in speech technologies will fundamentally alter the way in which users experience mobile devices and apps: devices secured with voice authentication; individuals — including the sighted and visually impaired — enjoying mobile content and apps without ever having to touch or view a device; new applications, from search to language translation and others, enabled by speech recognition; and in many other ways. Despite these advances, no OEM or operator to date has delivered a functional, easy-to-use, well-integrated speech solution, or ensured that users are aware of, understand how to use, and benefit from speech functionality — current devices are merely “speech equipped.” This briefing describes these important developments and outlines opportunities for operators and developers to introduce and capitalize on innovative new, speech- optimized solutions.

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