Microsoft introduces new mobility software

ITWorldCanada - Microsoft Corp. introduced its new voice-controlled software for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Pocket PC Phone Edition on Monday, an unveiling that one analyst said may help the lagging mobile device industry.
According to John Jackson, an analyst at Boston-based The Yankee Group, the reason there hasn't been more implementation of speech-recognition technolog is twofold: implementations to date haven't worked particularly well and people don't see the need for it.
However, Jackson added that he thinks there is a market for this type of software and if the technology can boost sales of the devices, then so be it.
"This is a category that I think is pretty clear. The enterprise is going to drive it and it needs a shot in the arm," Jackson said. "And so if [this technology] can provide some impetus for demand, then so much the better."
According to Microsoft, its new software allows users to have speaker-independent, hands-free voice interaction with their phone applications including contacts and calendars.
The software giant said it has spent the past 10 years researching the software it calls Voice Command -- technology which uses phonetic speech-recognition technology to allow users to use natural language. This would be as opposed to prerecorded prompts, where the user would have to say the prompt the exact way it is recorded to be successful.
To activate the technology, the user would, either through a headset or directly into the device, say the name of the person they want to call or state a phone number they want dialed.
To activate the voice-controlled calendar, users would ask the device when their next appointment is, and the time, subject and location of each entry would be read aloud, Microsoft said.
Likewise, to launch the voice-controlled applications, the user would say what application they wish to use including Internet Explorer, Outlook, Tasks and calculator.
Warren Wilson, a practice director at Summit Strategies Inc. in Seattle, said the great hope with this technology is that it will be capable enough to simplify the process of interacting with small screen devices.
He added that by simplifying the user's interaction with these small "clunky devices," the adoption barriers that have existed in the enterprise will be broken.
Both Jackson and Wilson listed speech recognition providers Nuance and Speech Works -- now a part of ScanSoft Inc. -- as possible competitors for Microsoft in this space, but Jackson added that as a larger incumbent software player, Microsoft would take the lead.
"[Microsoft] can certainly afford to take a leadership