Google, Verizon and Motorola have sure developed a flair for the dramatic. According to this post on a site operated by the Android’s leading triumvirate, you can use “just your voice” to “search Time Square without touching a single button.”

The claim is a bit overblown. What they mean to say is that after pressing 10 buttons to tap out 888-DROID DO (888-376-4336), you’ll be able to speak your query terms for interpretation by the speech recognition resources of Google Mobile Search. It’s part of an advertising and promotional campaign whereby Verizon will use the digital billboards that light up time square to prompt passers-by to dial the toll-free number “search for practically anything” and then see the results illustrated on those digital billboards rendered in Google Maps.

According to this post by Dan Frommer in Silicon Valley Insider, the companies launched the service earlier this month to coincide with the general availability of Motorola’s Droid in retail stores. They didn’t take into account the Yankees’ World Series Victory Parade, so it was sparsely attended, making it the perfect shake-down cruise for the service. On November 27 (Black Friday) the billboards will be up and operating at 6 AM and stay active until 3 AM the following morning.

While it is touted as a promotion for all things Droid, it amounts to a highly visible showcase for speech-enabled, multimodal mobile search. It embraces spoken input of query terms and visual rendering of results. Now all we have to do is convince the general public that they don’t have to book all the digital signage in Time Square to use their voice to get turn-by-turn directions on their mobile phones.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Google, mobile speech, Verizon, Droid