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Thursday, September 08, 2005

Will Skype Manage to Create the Elusive "Voice Web"?

While VoiceXML has done MUCH to establish an competitive, innovative and level playing field for the traditionally proprietary IVR industry, it has yet to result in the "voice web" its original creators had anticipated. That is a web of voice content available to POTS phones that mirrors the web you surf on your desktop.

Today, Skype has announced their Voice Services Program, that in many ways seems to be all about creating this elusive voice web, for the Skype user community. Whether or not they will succeed at this remains to be seen, but they've certainly picked the right technology (VoiceXML) and right technology partners (Tellme, Voxeo, and VoxPilot platforms are the best available!).

What do you all think?

by spkydog @ 8:35:00 AM   Bookmark and Share
2 comments links to this post

2 Comments:

At 11:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The most important incentive for VoiceXML service providers is the absence of setup costs. For example, up to recently, MAP Telecom charged its customers a minimum monthly amount of €540 for live speech applications, and required a yearly contract. If this hurdle is really taken away -seeing is believing- , the risk for application writers becomes negligible, apart from their development time.

Also, with Ebay taking over Skype, the Voice Services program has a better chance of success, if PayPal is smoothly integrated in the billing process. See my article.

 
At 7:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is an interesting article in this month's issue of Speech Technology Magazine (http://www.speechtechmag.com/issues/10_5/cover/12363-1.html) about the development of voice portals, and the original vision for the "Voice Web".

The author does a good job reminding us of the vision of a few years ago where voice sites would offer "engaging speech-enabled dialog available 24/7 from any standard telephone." Obviously the vision has changed a bit since the early days of VoiceXML.

I think Skype's new program highlights the importance that VoIP will have in taking the Voice Web to the next level. Telephony costs have always been a hinderance to those seeking to deploy voice applications, and this helps address that issue (at least for Skype users).

Pair this announcement with other developments in the speeech world (e.g., the development of the X+V standard) and the outlines of where the Voice Web will go in the next several years become clearer.

It's going to be very interesting.

 

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