Canada gets Wildfire

Canada's Bell Mobility plans to offer Wildfire personal assistant service in the Toronto area beginning Sept. 16-a move the company thinks pre-empts competitors.

Few if any other Canadian wireless carriers are researching speech recognition services like Wildfire, said Diane Scaini, Wildfire product manager for Bell Mobility.

Bell Mobility plans to target its high-volume users and the small office/home office markets for the Wildfire service with direct mail advertising. "We will be proactive on the marketing front," Scaini said. While sales people in stores will be able to activate service for customers, Bell Mobility does not intend to actively sell Wildfire from its stores. "It's not a mass-market product," Scaini said.

If take rates are as high as it expects, Bell Mobility intends to roll out Wildfire in all its markets by the end of 1999.

Since Wildfire first started developing its service, other companies such as General Magic may have taken the lead in the speech recognition market, said Alan Reiter, president of Wireless, Internet & Mobile Computing. "Wildfire was a pioneer in this field, then it lost the lead because its product was simply too expensive," he said. Wildfire has since changed its business model so it can offer a more cost-effective product. "We may see a series of leap frogs," Reiter said, with Wildfire and General Magic competing for a lead in the market.

Wireless still may offer the biggest market for speech recognition products. "We see wireless carriers on the leading edge because they have a compelling need on their network beyond convenience, like safety," said Rob Mechaley, president and CEO of Wildfire Communications. He also sees wireless as a leader in adopting enhanced services because it is one of the first telecom segments to see competition.

WildDial voice dialing Users can place calls by speaking a number or name

WildMail voice-controlled voice mail Users can return messages by saying, "give them a call"

WildFind call routing Users can forward calls to any phone, contact name or voice mail

WildWhisper intelligent call waiting The user can accept incoming calls while in voice mail or Wildfire will take a message