Audiopoint, originally a voice portal company, is remaking itself as a text-to-speech specialist for mobile phones.
The company next week is expected to announce Voice Terminal, which is a toll-free number service for accessing and interacting with a Google Calendar account.
Currently the service costs a few dollars per month or a few hundred per year. Audiopoint is also considering an advertising-supported service, CEO Brian Lichorowic said.
However, it’s important for ads to be useful, not annoying, he said. For example, ads could offer coupons or other forms of discounts on goods or services, rather than just forcing people to wait and listen for 30 seconds.
Lichorowic, previously of CUSeeMe, said his company is profitable and has enterprise voice customers, such as Coca-Cola, EarthLink and General Mills