Buying SpinVox Would Be Coup for Nuance

While we don’t like to trade in rumor or innuendo, the idea that Nuance Communications has been in talks to buy SpinVox has been making the rounds for long enough that it deserves some serious thought. As we mentioned here when Nuance and AT&T forged a deal to offer voicemail-to-text transcription for AT&T’s US customers, the battle is on for transcription technology providers to “power” the Tier One carriers around the world. In that respect, SpinVox had put some distance between itself and the pack of providers that include Novaurus (in Japan), Promptu (in Italy), Yap! (in Cincinnati) and a few others. Other companies, most notably Ditech Network’s PhoneTag and Google’s Google Voice operation are carrier agnostic and also have an enterprise-oriented focus.

What’s interesting about voicemail-to-text transcription is that it is an instance where voice processing improves upon a well-understood but backward technology (voicemail). It is also an instance that can be the foundation for a number of revenue streams: including monthly subscriptions or per-message “bundles.” In other words, prospective subscribers see value in the service’s ability to make voicemail more accessible and flexible. It is also the foundation for a number of other services, such as voice search and navigation, that can comprise a suite of enhanced services that can carry price tags of their own.

SpinVox may have achieved a position of notoriety, with its high-profile promotions and high-visibility declines. But it also made great strides in penetrating the wall between third-party service providers and incumbent communications carriers. Nuance would do well to leverage SpinVox’s positioning.