Apple's fuels boom in voice technology 12 September 2012, by Brandon Bailey

Call it the "Siri effect." With Apple expected to and through acquisitions. But with the debut of unveil on Wednesday a new iPhone with added Apple's Siri last year, the tech rivals are now capabilities for Siri, its voice-activated digital engaged in a high-profile voice-technology arms assistant, industry experts say two factors are race. driving an explosion of voice-enabled services in smartphones, televisions, cars and other consumer Some analysts say regained the lead this products. summer when it added more voice capabilities to the Android mobile software that powers One is technological, as increasingly smartphones made by several iPhone competitors. sophisticated software taps into vast amounts of But Apple has touted new features in the latest data processing power over the Internet, to upgrade of its mobile software, which will power the augment the computer chips inside a phone or new iPhone 5. According to Apple, Siri will soon be other gadget. The other is based on the popular able to launch applications and use services like appeal of Siri and its rivals, boosted by an OpenTable to make a restaurant reservation with extensive Apple ad campaign with celebrities voice commands. Samuel L. Jackson, Zooey Deschanel and Martin Scorsese. has also added voice capabilities to its smartphone software as it vies for a share of the A number of tech companies - including Google, mobile market now dominated by Apple and Microsoft and IBM - are working on voice Android. In addition, Microsoft has introduced voice technology. But "Apple's introduction of Siri, commands for its Bing search engine and Xbox combined with their marketing, has really had an entertainment console. impact in creating consumer expectations," said industry analyst Dan Miller of Opus Research. Meanwhile, Ford and other automakers are incorporating voice technology into navigation And as more consumers see what the technology systems, climate systems and music players, while can do - even if imperfectly and not all the time - Samsung, LG and Panasonic are shipping their expectations are fueling demand that's forcing television sets with voice controls. product manufacturers to embrace the technology, said Mike Thompson of , Younger motorists want their cars to do more than a leading supplier of voice-computing tools to other provide transportation, according to Ford executive companies including Apple, Ford and Samsung. Sheryl Connelly, whose company has worked with Nuance and Microsoft. Internet connectivity allows "We've been steadily growing for a number of motorists to send messages and get information, years, as speech functionality on devices has been she said during a talk sponsored by Silicon Valley's improving. But we've recently crossed a threshold Churchill Club, while voice controls can "simplify of consumer awareness," said Thompson, an those interactions" so drivers don't get distracted. executive vice president at Massachusetts-based Nuance, which makes software that helps Voice controls are becoming so common that car computers recognize voice commands, parse them companies must decide whether to let their into tasks or processes, and convert digital results systems interact with the gadgets motorists carry in into human-like speech. their pockets, Miller said. Apple has announced it's working with General Motors and others to build a In recent years, Google has introduced voice- Siri voice-command button into car steering wheels. activated navigation, search and translation apps based on technology that it developed internally Not far in the future, some experts foresee other

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voice-activated appliances and home systems that control thermostats and alarms. Already available are programs that use a person's unique voiceprint to determine if he or she is a gadget's rightful owner, and thus authorized to access data or make online purchases.

Even Siri's fans will concede that today's voice systems are far from perfect: Internet connections can be lost. Programs stumble on unusual phrases or figures of speech, and they generally can't offer more than pre-programmed quips in response to abstract questions like, "What's the meaning of life?"

Today's voice technology works better within limited areas, such as automated call-center programs that can recognize questions and provide answers relevant to a specific company or industry - rather than confronting a much wider range of queries like Siri does. But experts also say the expanded use of voice services will provide even more data that engineers can use to improve the way computers recognize and respond to spoken commands.

At the Churchill Club event, veteran computer scientist Ronald Kaplan compared the evolution of voice technology to the speech development of a child.

Talking with computers was once as limited as speaking to a toddler, said Kaplan, who worked on voice technology at Xerox PARC and Microsoft before joining Nuance. Today it's more like talking with a 5- or 6-year-old, he added, and "the conversation is getting kind of interesting."

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