Lee, more evidence that speech recognition is gaining serious momentum...
IBM Says It's Been 'Big Year' for Speech Software
By DAVID EVANS
c.1997 Bloomberg News
LAS VEGAS -- International Business Machines Corp. expects to sell 2 million copies of its speech recognition software in 1997, a senior executive said in an interview.
Most will come pre-installed on new computers, although about 750,000 units will be purchased in the aftermarket, Ozzie Osborne, general manager of IBM Speech Systems, said in an interview at the Comdex computer industry trade show in Las Vegas.
''It's been a very big year for us,'' Osborne said.
Sales for the dictation software took off after IBM lowered its entry-level price below $100 a year ago. That's 90 percent cheaper than a less powerful product that it sold two years ago, which required installation of a special card in the user's computer.
In June, IBM introduced a continuous speech product, ViaVoice, that it says will accept 70 to 100 words per minute of naturally spoken dictation, with up to 95 percent accuracy.
The company estimates that it's captured a 68 percent market share for voice recognition software in the U.S., and a higher share overseas, Osborne said.
''Wherever you have a hands-free environment where a keyboard is not practical, speech is obvious,'' Osborne said. For example, IBM is demonstrating an ''Internet'' car at Comdex, configured so the driver can send and receive electronic mail and control some vehicle functions by voice.
IBM's latest speech software release, ViaVoice Gold, was introduced last week. It sells for $125 after a rebate and comes with a 22,000-word vocabulary.
A ''vocabulary expander'' feature will automatically increase the vocabulary up to 64,000 words, by automatically browsing through a computer's memory to find the user's most frequently used words and names.
ViaVoice Gold also has a text-to-speech function that ''reads'' text. Another feature permits hands-free navigation of the Internet.
The software requires a 166-MHz processor with MMX, 32 megabytes of RAM, a sound card and Windows 95.
Continuous speech software is also offered by Dragon Systems, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, Voice Control Systems Inc. and Motorola Inc. It's under development by a number of companies, including Microsoft Corp., Philips Electronics NV, BBN Corp. and Fonix Corp.
______________________________________________________
Lee, I can't believe Microsoft let this market slip through their fingers. It goes to show even a big behemouth like IBM can be a nimble player at times.
I agree, once the bugs are fully worked out. Speech recognition is going to be a HUGE user app.
Intel will no doubt benifit tremendously.
Michael |
