Mobile voice technology providers Apple, Vlingo and Nuance took actions that, to varying degrees, turn up the heat in the world of mobile voice. For its part, Apple has been granted yet another patent for a major component of a hands-free, voice user interface (VUI). In U.S. Patent Number 7,757,173 the inventor describes a dynamic or “updateable” voice menu. As described in the filing, the technology is designed to offer many of the context-sensitive attributes of a dynamic, graphical user interface for search and retrieval of “media”, like recorded music; but the filing notes that “songs” or “music” could be “generalized to any form of digital media, which can include sound files, picture data, movies, text files or any other types of media that can be digitally stored on a computer.”

Some of what Apple describes conceptually, Vlingo is putting into practice with the release of its SuperDialer for Android application. Greg Sterling writes about it here, noting that it is designed to take on Siri for local, mobile search. Yet, with “SuperDialer” Vlingo is delivering an easy-to-understand use case for a voice-based front end to messaging resources, social networks, search and, ultimately transactions.

Nuance, for its part, reminds us that the automobile is destined to be the ultimate smart, mobile device. The companies have jointly expanded the range of speech-enabled features and functions it is offering in conjunction with Ford as part of “MyFord Touch”. By adding more first-level commands and making the interface more dynamic and personal, the initiative is designed to make a person’s voice “the primary in-car communications interface.”

Establishing the primacy of a user’s voice for command and information entry in cars and on smartphones remains a tall order, but the speed at which solutions providers introduce new refinements is definitely accelerating.

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Tags: mobile voice, voice user interface, Nuance, Apple, Vlingo, Mobile Platforms