Speech solutions provider Nuance Communications unveiled a prototype for voice search capabilities shown on the Apple iPhone.
The company claims the application introduces a new, more compelling consumer and search experience. Through Nuance speech recognition servers, mobile subscribers can simply speak requests into their phone like “Find the Apple store in Boston, ” “Score of the Boston Celtics game” or “Play Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds” to search the mobile Web or in the future dictate an IM, SMS or e-mail message.
The prototype, code-named OVS for open voice search, will allow mobile operators to offer simple “say anything” search capabilities and is search engine agnostic, able to link to any search engine of an operator’s choosing.
In related Nuance news, the company appointed Gary Clayton to the role of chief creative officer. Clayton joins Nuance from Yahoo! where he served as vice president of Speech Strategy and oversaw speech implementation for the Yahoo! platform and mobile products, including oneSearch with Voice. Clayton will report to Paul Ricci, Nuance’s chairman and CEO, and will be located in Nuance’s Sunnyvale, Calif., offices.