Nuance scales its voice-recognition suite to the feature phone

Nuance Communications is opening the typical feature phone to the world of network-based interactive voice services, announcing today a new version of its VSuite software that links its once-isolated embedded speech recognition solution to its much more powerful network applications server. The result is a mid-tier phone that can access voice-powered applications usually reserved for smartphones such as auto-dictation, voice search or any application a wireless operator wants to voice-enable.

Nuance’s VSuite application resides on 300 million phones worldwide, but the embedded software’s functions are limited, usually centered on voice-dialing. While “call Mom” is still a useful tool for feature phone users, Nuance wanted to take the much richer suite of network services it offers over smartphones to the broader masses, said Mike Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of Nuance’s mobile business. The result is Nuance’s first hybrid embedded client-network platform: VSuite still powers basic voice-recognition on the phone, but software tendrils in its new Nuance Voice Control (NVC) suite allow it to hook into any application in the device -- whether Web browser, media player or directory -- and integrate it with its powerful speech-recognition technology in the network.

“Operators don’t just want to speech-enable one application, they want to speech-enable the whole phone, and they want to do it for the mass market,” Thompson said. Open Voice Search, for instance, could be linked to the Web browser, allowing a command of “Find Cubs Tickets” to automatically initiate a Google or other search-engine session. A navigation app could take its commands via voice along with delivering directions via audio. And the SMS client on the phone could take its instructions and dictation through voice input: “Send text to Mom; Hi Mom, can I borrow $200? Send.” There isn’t any application that speech couldn’t touch, Thompson said.

The new platform also shifts Nuance’s business model to align more closely to that of the operator. As its embedded platform previously was isolated on the phone, manufacturers licensed the software directly. But as NVC is a network-dependent service, Nuance is targeting operators who can decide what services they want to add speech functionality to. Those operators in turn work with their handset vendors and distributors to flash-upgrade the firmware of the devices to support those services.

Nuance will still be working closely with handset vendors, though. Unlike smartphones, which have common operating systems that Nuance can develop its software for, feature phones all run on proprietary operating systems unique to the individual manufacturer and sometimes unique to the phone. Thompson said Nuance will build off the integration work it does with handset vendors for its VSuite platform, ensuring that the additional voice functionality can work across all platforms.

Related stories:

Nuance launches Speech apps

Nuance to buy Tegic for $256 million

Nuance buys BeVocal