LHSP the gorilla family
nice gorilla game analysis but i want to add a few important points which will strengthen its candidacy even more
LHSP is a family of gorillas :-)
i see at least three to four family members of which some are still in a seemingly early stage - i call them a family because they are strongly linked with each other - the fact they are strongly linked and embedded into each other will make each one of them a lot stronger :
the speech-to-text gorilla (which you described quite accurately - i will not elaborate on this one)
the text-to-speech gorilla (i will elaborate on this on in this post)
the text-to-text or translation software gorilla (i will elaborate on this one in a next post)- the competitive advantage here lies in the power of the multilanguage (over 36 languages by end 00) proprietary semantic database developed over the years. it takes years and a simply not available amount of speech engineers and linguists to build another one. (lhsp employs more speechtech engineers and linguists than all of the competition together) link this with its other technologies and with the fact that only a rather limited part of the world understands english and try to gauge the potential
the semantic intelligence gorilla(i will elaborate on this on in a next post)
1. speech-to-text gorilla
2. text-to-speech gorilla
2.1. overview
lhsp developed the realspeak text-to-speech technology which will be available in 36 languages by the end of this year. It is the only product in the marketplace with a human or natural sounding voice and outbeats every competitor. Gaston Bastiaens very recently said in an interview on stocktalk 0n24 "we own that market"
realspeak is already licensed to lots of mobile operators, big telephony and callcenter companies, automotive companies, a joint venture with fox kids for the gaming business, www.ananova.com and some more. see www.lhsl.com for the complete list
2.2. gorilla characteristics
2.2.1 Is there a discontinuous innovation or a proprietary open architecture ?
Yes. replacing human and pre-recorded voices, screen and all kind of other communication interfaces by a naturally sounding computer voice is a paradigm shift. Development tools for the speech-to-text platform will probably also be developed to create some kind of proprietary platform to build solutions on
2.2.2 Does it have the potential to grow into a mass market phenomenon, become a standard?
Yes. It can and will pop up in virtually every interface we daily use pda's, computers, cars, access systems, electric apparatus, virtual newsreaders, virtual books, animation movies...realspeak is already the de facto standard in its field and will be embedded in all technology layers
2.2.3 Are there high barriers to entry and high switching costs?
yes and yes. barriers are high due to proprietary technology, years of work and simply not available human resources to create the multi-language semantic database. embedding the technology in all layers from hardware to application software will make switching costs very high -
2.2.4 Have Value Chains developed, and have they crossed the chasm?
yes and yes. (though not yet visible in the marketplace and in a very early stage). demand for realspeak licenses is tremendous dixit jo lernout. it will be in all voice platforms very soon the first licensees are getting their products ready for the market in the months to come(text-to-speech e-mail appliances)- www.ananova.com is one of them (available in april 00) the quality of the natural sounding voice gets lhsp over the chasm
greetings
slwyc |
