FōnCloud appears to be a new Voice 2.0 application in the works. Shai Berger, one of the founders of FōnCloud, happened to post a comment to my Proof is NOT in the Pudding Media.com post where I was very negative about speech-recognition word spotting to push ads to users. I wasn't familiar with Shai or FōnCloud so I thought I'd check out www.foncloud.com, but it simply says "coming soon". I headed on over to Shai's blog and noticed he called his blog "Call the Cloud".
In his somewhat rebuttal to my Pudding Media blog post, Shai explains why having a 3rd party on the call in the "cloud" is a good thing.
He writes in Look Past the Pudding:
Of course, TellMe, now a Microsoft subsidiary, also has speech recognition functionality and is well-known for their toll-free 800 number (800-555-TELL) that lets you issue commands to let you retrieve stock quotes, movie times, etc. TellMe also has the largest VoiceXML deployment in the world and they allow enterprises to develop VoiceXML applications. But TellMe doesn't exist in the "cloud", so it wouldn't be able to simply listen in on outbound calls to see if you issue commands for ANY outbound call you make.
In fact, according to Shai's LinkedIn profile, "FonCloud is building advanced features for web-telephony integration. Our target customers are all the consumer Voice Service Providers (VSPs) which includes telco's, cableco's, pure-play VoIP companies and PC-based offerings (Skype, GTalk, YahooVoice). Our features will be available as hosted services on a white-label basis."
Wow, this is VERY interesting. Since telcos, cablecos, and pure VoIP players all exist in the "cloud", they are the ones connecting the call and therefore they have the ability to listen to verbal commands or inject advertisements (like Pudding Media does). I certainly DO see the value in having the "cloud" intelligently listen to my conversations and listen for my verbal commands. I can see it useful for stuff like "Conference my entire IT department using their cell phone numbers" or "What is on my calendar today?" or "Read my email". You can get really advanced. For instance, teenagers can say "Tell me who hasn't yet accepted my evite.com invite for my party". Then you can say "call not responders alphabetically" or something like that. The possibilities are endless.
In his somewhat rebuttal to my Pudding Media blog post, Shai explains why having a 3rd party on the call in the "cloud" is a good thing.
He writes in Look Past the Pudding:
Once you have speech recognition “on the call” lots of options open up. What if you could explicitly direct the cloud during your call?It's this last line that is most fascinating. It sounds like FōnCloud is working on something that sounds eerily similar to Wildfire, a sophisticated personal assistant with speech-recognition built-in that allows to issue commands (get calendar, email, call Mr. Smith, etc). I actually met one of the founders way-back-when for a meeting in a Las Vegas hotel. I believe Wildfire started in the mid 1990s and was highly touted, but didn't get market traction. Perhaps now is the time?
“Cloud, show us Italian restaurants downtown.”
“… what’s the weather for tonight.”
“… call me a taxi.”
What if you could define your own voice commands (like a vocal YubNub?).
Once we become comfortable that the cloud is a 3rd party on our call, a world of possibilities opens up.
Think about this in a business context…
“Cloud, what appointments do I have next Tuesday?”
“… conference in Bob from accounting.”
“… how many units of the XL45 do we have in the warehouse?”
<snip>
Cloud-routing of phone calls is ultimately going to improve the calling experience.
If it’s done right you will want to make your calls through the cloud and it won’t be about saving money at all.
That’s what we’re working on at FōnCloud.
Of course, TellMe, now a Microsoft subsidiary, also has speech recognition functionality and is well-known for their toll-free 800 number (800-555-TELL) that lets you issue commands to let you retrieve stock quotes, movie times, etc. TellMe also has the largest VoiceXML deployment in the world and they allow enterprises to develop VoiceXML applications. But TellMe doesn't exist in the "cloud", so it wouldn't be able to simply listen in on outbound calls to see if you issue commands for ANY outbound call you make.
In fact, according to Shai's LinkedIn profile, "FonCloud is building advanced features for web-telephony integration. Our target customers are all the consumer Voice Service Providers (VSPs) which includes telco's, cableco's, pure-play VoIP companies and PC-based offerings (Skype, GTalk, YahooVoice). Our features will be available as hosted services on a white-label basis."
Wow, this is VERY interesting. Since telcos, cablecos, and pure VoIP players all exist in the "cloud", they are the ones connecting the call and therefore they have the ability to listen to verbal commands or inject advertisements (like Pudding Media does). I certainly DO see the value in having the "cloud" intelligently listen to my conversations and listen for my verbal commands. I can see it useful for stuff like "Conference my entire IT department using their cell phone numbers" or "What is on my calendar today?" or "Read my email". You can get really advanced. For instance, teenagers can say "Tell me who hasn't yet accepted my evite.com invite for my party". Then you can say "call not responders alphabetically" or something like that. The possibilities are endless.
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Tom I agree speech is a killer app, but I'm getting a little jaded as startups come and go that are basically using backend technology which has not kept pace with Moore's Law (Nuance).
I have yet to see a bulletproof "conversational" speech application. Simple command recognition is becoming commonplace, and actually 411 here in my area has been front ended with machine speech reco for some time and is amazingly good at recognizing cities, states and business names.
I'd love to see it, I have been waiting for someone to make me a believer in consumer scale speech implementations, everything I have seen...to date...seems lacking.
Tom, yes it does bring back memories of Wildfire, but that was in pre VoIP days and was mostly an advanced personal assistant. It managed your calender and phone calls and not much more. If I not mistaken they charged a few hundred dollars at the time. Harry Newton was a big fan.
Today we are, as Shai describes, going to a higher level. Look at it as "Voice Googling". True, Shai may be ahead of his time, but eventually that will happen. Meanwhile I advise VoIP resellers to find specific business processes, that can benefit from adding a IP voice application. If you look around there are plenty. Since we are talking IP, they are easy to implement and very profitable. That is what we believe at The Flat Planet Phone Company!