Say Hello to Voice Portals

Can voice-based portal services make up for wireless Internet deficiencies?

Voice-activated Internet access is attracting attention as an alternative to wireless data.

Today, you don't even need fingers. Your lips can do the walking to make calls, get e-mail and driving directions. Soon, you'll even be able to purchase books, music and tickets simply by speaking to your wireless phone. Voice-portal services have arrived, and the wireless world will not be the same.

The Kelsey Group predicts that the voice-portal application and service market will hit $12.3 billion by 2005, with more than 128 million users. Allied Business Intelligence forecasts 56 million voice-portal users by 2005.

Why is the industry so excited about voice portals? Because with them, devices displaying color, size and quality don't matter. Neither do WAP and WAP-enabled devices that consumers may be hesitant to use and purchase. And services that consumers love - e-mail, messaging and voice mail - become much simpler when they can talk rather than tap a tiny keypad.

Wireless carriers currently offer portals and display icons for ESPN and Barnes & Noble on WAP screens, but voice portals can be used with both wireless and wireline phones, with or without WAP. Although a wireless portal sends data to a user in an e-mail or by displaying it on a WAP screen, a voice portal conveys the information by talking to you. A user dials the number of a voice-portal company such as BeVocal or Tellme and then simply speaks to receive news headlines, driving directions or flight information.

Sprint PCS and Qwest are already trialing or offering voice-portal services with more to follow.

"All of the U.S. wireless carriers will offer a voice-portal solution by mid-year," predicted Mike Robinson, BeVocal director of market development.

As more companies introduce wireless Web sites and more consumers are confused by WAP, voice portals make more sense for carriers.

"I don't know if I would say it's going to be the killer app, but I would definitely say that I think there's huge opportunity," said Matt Sopcich, Qwest Wireless Data general manager. "It's a more natural way, especially in the U.S. market, for customers to begin to use their phone for something other than calling a family member or colleague. It will depend on how quickly we're able to get the recognition technology and new services and applications at a point where customers see they're really valuable."

Although the verdict's still out, carriers are racing to roll out voice-portal offerings, and so are many non-wireless Internet companies such as AOL, Tellme and Yahoo.

Speaking Out Along with Sprint PCS and Quest Wireless getting into the voice-portal game, AT&T Wireless recently invested in speech-recognition software company SpeechWorks International.

Sprint PCS' Voice Command network-based voice-dialing service, which the carrier integrated with BeVocal's portal services, allows users to create a voice-accessible address book with up to 500 contact names. Subscribers then dial any of those or modify their address book by voice command.

Qwest Wireless voice-browsing customers can access Internet services by dialing superscript *999 on their wireless phones. Voice browsing lets users verbally ask for specific Web-based information, and the Internet talks back with the answer. Qwest's voice-activated Web-browsing service will offer the capability to search for businesses and receive personalized news, sports, traffic, stock quotes, weather and airline information.

Qwest launched its voice-portal services to consumer and business subscribers in eight western and midwestern states. There's no initial setup process, and Sopcich said it's "a very intuitive process." The service will take you right into the main menu, go through the main menu for you or you can bypass it by saying "stock quotes." The service then will take you to stock quotes and you can say, "Qwest Communications," to get the current stock price.

"We've used this as a platform to deliver additional services to our customers," said Sopcich. "Our whole goal is to make it easy and simple for them to access the information that's important to them."

Both Sprint PCS and Qwest Wireless added BeVocal's voice services as a feature on their wireless networks. BeVocal's applications allow personalization based on a caller's location, delivered to any device and customized via an open platform. Its voice-portal applications include: a search engine for locating more than 1 million businesses; point-to-point driving directions covering more than 11 million streets and 100 million addresses; up-to-the-minute flight information; real-time traffic information for 65 U.S. metro areas; worldwide weather updates and extended forecasts; up-to-the-minute news and sports audio feeds; stock quotes; and TV, lottery and horoscope updates.

Callers dial a voice-activated dialer, enter a special key sequence specified by the carrier, or dial a toll-free number, 1-800-4BVOCAL, to access a voice-portal service. Users can customize the services based on their preferences, have them delivered to any device and have information read to them, e-mailed or downloaded to their WAP-enabled wireless phones. BeVocal's service uses audio recordings with some text-to-speech.

"(Voice portals) are a great way to add some additional value to what you offer as a wireless carrier," Robinson said. "If the only way you can compete today is on pricing your buckets of minutes differently, and that's the only thing you have as a company to differentiate your services, it's going to be very difficult to stay competitive."

As part of last year's fourth-quarter promotion, Qwest customers could try voice browsing free for three months.

"We've had a tremendous take rate on that, far above our expectations," Sopcich said. "Customers like how easy it is and how intuitive it is. Rather than having to go through a specific prescripted set of commands, it gives them a lot of flexibility to navigate through the service."

Qwest initially waived the $4.95-per-month charge to introduce voice services to customers. Sprint plans to begin charging for voice-portal service in 1Q01. According to a spokesperson, the pricing structure (whether users will be charged a per-minute or per-call fee or a monthly charge for basic voice services) will depend on trial feedback. For now, Voice Command is free to Sprint PCS Free & Clear users with a 1-year contract and costs $5 to $10 per month with other pricing plans.

"It may prove to be difficult for carriers to charge $4 or $5 a month for a service that consumers can get for free elsewhere," said Mike Bergelson, CEO & president of Phone2Networks, a wireless ASP and voice-portal software company. "If Qwest charges $5 a month for BeVocal but BeVocal is available for free at 1-800-4BVOCAL, that's a bit of a challenge. People would look for the additional value-add that they'd receive for that $5."

Robinson said consumers will accept extra charges for voice applications because of the value and convenience they provide.

"Things like voice dialing add a convenience factor that's incredibly addictive," he said. "You never want to go back to punching the buttons. Once people get exposed to this, $5 will be a nominal fee to use it."

The big question is whether Qwest can transition customers to a paid service that they will have previously been using for free, said Mark Plakias, Kelsey Group voice and wireless analyst. But, he said, Qwest's initial free strategy is a good way to get customers "addicted."

Voice Vs. WAP? It's fair to say that consumers aren't addicted to WAP services. Although new technologies will deliver faster speeds and more intelligent interfaces, voice-activated Internet access is attracting attention as an alternative to wireless data now.

"The wireless Web is just technology looking for business applications, not business looking for technology solutions," Bergelson said. "Wireless Web applications can only be used by a handful of consumers, but with voice portals, any phone can be used now to provide offerings such as instant messaging, online auction bids, stock quotes and comparison shopping to anyone, anywhere, anytime and for free."

WAP is more of an output medium, Robinson said. Currently, consumers can call BeVocal and get driving directions by speaking. Then they can download those directions to their WAP-enabled handset.

"That's the best of both worlds, using your voice as an input mechanism and having the phone audio, e-mail or WAP phone as another output," he said. "Our users are telling us that they'd like to have lots of options for both input and output, and they want to do whatever's most appropriate wherever they happen to be."

Because voice portals don't require a big behavior change, the purchase of a new device or a large learning curve, they may prove more attractive than WAP.

"Voice right now is likely to see better numbers," Bergelson said. "But over time, it's not one versus the other, we'll see some equality in the numbers because voice and wireless data will become one in the same. It's just going to be a mobile Web access, and whether that comes through wireless data or through voice, the two are going to start to be intertwined."

Sopcich said voice portals are an entry point to attract consumers and businesses to other wireless Internet services.

"It's going to be situationally dependent for each customer. Sometimes they're going to want to read it, other times they're going to want to talk to it," he said.