The Proliferation of Innovative Speech Applications in Mobile Computing (Strategic Focus)

Speech is becoming more widely accepted as an interface between user and computing devices. As the market for mobile devices, automobiles and information appliances grow spending on embedded speech technology will rise. This series will provide an in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of the market for speech across various embedded environments.

Report Highlights
Improved mobile devices, stronger networks, and consumer demand for constant connectivity have all contributed to usher in an era of ubiquitous computing. As consumers become increasingly mobile, however, the question of how precisely to interface with a computing device has taken precedence.

The emergence of application stores, such as Apple's iPhone App Store, Google's Android Market, and Blackberry's upcoming Application StoreFront will spur the development of innovative speech applications in mobile handsets.

Datamonitor identifies three flavors of speech search applications in mobile handsets: open search, closed search, and its subset local search. These applications use server-side ASR and the quality of these applications is largely contingent on the quality of that enabling technology and the quality of the search engine it powers.
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Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Key Messages 2
The market for speech applications for mobile professionals is slow 2
There's greater opportunity for speech applications for the mobile field force 2
Consumer applications in mobile handsets will be the most innovative 2
The vehicle telematics market is difficult to penetrate 2
The PND market is easier to enter 2
Delivery models are evolving for field force speech applications 2
Channel strategies are changing for speech applications on mobile handsets 3
4
Table of figures 5
market opportunity 6
Defining mobile computing 6
The market for speech applications in the mobile enterprise 6
Speech applications in the mobile professional sector 6
Benefits for speech applications for mobile professionals 7
Trends in speech applications for mobile professionals 7
Speech applications in the mobile field force 8
Types of field force jobs 8
Benefits of mobile speech applications in field services and warehouse management 8
Trends in mobile field force speech applications 9
Barriers to mobile speech adoption in the enterprise 9
Consumers are beginning to interact more with the data channel than the voice channel 9
The market for speech applications in mobile computing for consumers 10
Consumer applications in mobile handsets for consumers will be the most innovative 10
Defining the applications 11
STT applications are the most common speech application in mobile handsets 11
Speech search is gaining popularity 11
Command & control is popular for both consumers and enterprise users 12
Mobile handsets are increasingly incorporating GPS 12
The biggest hurdle with pushing speech into a mobile device is distribution 12
The market for vehicle telematics systems is difficult to penetrate 13
Popular speech applications for telematics systems 14
PNDs is an easier market to enter 14
Enabling technology in PNDs and telematics 15
Network speech in PNDs and telematics 15
Spending on speech in mobile computing in 2008 15
Customer Impact 17
Uptake of mobile speech will continue in isolated areas across the enterprise 17
The uses of speech for mobile professionals are limited 17
Though growing, there is still some reluctance to adopt speech applications for field services 17
Warehouse management is a key growth area for speech applications 18
Opportunities in healthcare 18
Consumer speech applications in mobile handsets improve the user experience 18
An improved user experience will drive uptake of mobile internet data plans 18
PNDs and in-vehicle telematics consistently use speech interfaces 19
Hands-free laws are gaining traction 19
It is unclear to what extent speech interfaces alleviate driver distraction 19
Competitive Landscape 21
Mobile field force and mobile professionals 21
Mobile consumers 22
PNDs 22
Telematics 22
Mobile handsets 23
Vendor profiles 23
Convergys/Intervoice 23
Datria 23
Dial Directions 24
Google 24
IBM 24
Loquendo 25
Nuance 25
SpinVox 25
SVOX 26
Tellme 26
Vangard Voice 26
Vlingo 27
Vocollect 27
VoiceBox 27
Voxware 28
Go to Market 29
The speech market for mobile professionals will continue to be small 29
The mobile field force is a growing market 29
Most mobile field force investments are in warehouse management 29
Field services has been slow to adopt speech 29
New delivery methods offer more competitive pricing 30
Partner with providers of IT solutions that already have presence in field force software 31
Emerging distribution channels for speech applications on consumer handsets 32
Application stores present a new route to market 32
Carrier partnerships are important 32
Web 2.0 companies are actively seeking to optimize for the mobile internet 32
Speech applications on mobile devices should leverage both GUI and VUI 33
Vendors should optimize data input and include a TTS function for data output 33
Vendors should differentiate with functionality 33
Vendors should optimize in-vehicle VUI design 33
Speech is crucial for the future of interface design 34
APPENDIX 35
Definitions 35
Applications - An application is the interface between machine and human; as such, the quality of its design is critical to the success of a project and generally takes the largest proportion of implementation time. In most cases, it will also interact with other applications to retrieve the content that will satisfy requests. 35
ASR - Automatic Speech Recognition 35
GPS - Global Positioning System, a satellite navigation system that transmits microwave signals to a receiver, allowing the system to pinpoint location and velocity. 35
GUI - Graphical User Interface 35
Mobile computing - Computing on a wireless device designed to be operated while the user is in motion and/or partially distracted by external stimuli. Mobile computing covers a range of technologies and areas including devices (mobile phones, rugged devices, personal navigation devices [PNDs], vehicle telematics systems), mobile applications, mobile platforms, and integrations and systems management. 35
Mobile handset - A small, voice-centric mobile phone that sends voice or data communications wirelessly over a network. 35
Mobility - The ability to use technology to connect wirelessly to information and applications using wireless computing and communication devices. This includes devices like mobile handsets, Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and in-vehicle telematics systems. 35
Multimodal interaction - An interaction between machine and human that combines more than one mode of interfacing. For instance, a multimodal interaction often uses both voice and graphical interfaces. 35
PND - Personal Navigation Device, a portable device with navigation functions. Often uses GPS to position its location. 35
SCXML - State Chart XML is an XML-based markup language used for creating multimodal applications. 35
Smartphone - A small, voice-centric mobile handsets with data transfer capabilities. They offer a combination of features including voice, personal information management (PIM), web browsing, FM radio, mp3 audio, short-text messaging (SMS), and e-mail. 35
STT - Speech-To-Text 35
TTS - Text-To-Speech 35
3G - 3rd Generation standard of mobile networking technologies. Includes heavier integration of multimedia such as voice, video, and data. 35
UC - Unified Communications, the ability to manage all communications, whether it is voice, email, fax or instant messaging, through one interface. It is the convergence of all related applications to enable a seamless communication process and accessibility irrelevant of location or device. Technologies included are: integrated personal directory, IP 'softphone', click-to-call, presence indicators, unified messaging, web (video and audio) conferencing, one number. 36
UM - Unified Messaging are applications that allow the user to receive voice-mail, email, SMS and fax in the same place. Web conferencing includes video and audio conferencing over IP networks. This does not include presence applications. 36
Vehicle telematics - An in-vehicle, factory-installed system that combines telecommunications and computer technology. Specific features vary, but often include GPS navigation, cellular communications, limited internet connectivity, controls over the vehicle's electronics, and vehicle diagnostics. Additionally telematics often incorporate outside devices like mobile handsets. 36
VoiceXML - The World Wide Consortium's (W3C) standard markup language, based on XML and used for creating Voice User Interfaces that use ASR and TTS technologies. 36
VUI - Voice User Interface 36
Methodology 36
Further reading 36
Ask the analyst 37
Datamonitor consulting 37
Disclaimer 37
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Figure 1: Value chain for consumer speech applications on mobile handsets 13
Figure 2: 2008 spending on speech in mobile computing 16
Figure 3: Proportion of embedded to network speech deployments over a five year period 31
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