• Microsoft Tellme Launches BlackBerry Voice Search

    Microsoft Tellme Launches BlackBerry Voice Search

    Techtree News Staff, Apr 23, 2008 2347 hrs IST

    Using GPS, the system zeroes in on the location of the user and delivers (locally relevant) results for specific queries to the smart phone's screen.

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Microsoft subsidiary 'Tellme' has yesterday launched an application for RIM's BlackBerry that allows users simply speak commands into their smart phones to look up businesses, movie times, traffic updates, and so on.

Users need to download the application and switch on their phone's green 'talk' button to get started. Using GPS, the system zeroes in on the location of the user and delivers (locally relevant) results for specific queries from the Microsoft Live Search engine to the smart phone's screen along with other useful links. While the application currently works only on some BlackBerry models, Tellme said versions for Helio, Windows Mobile and Apple iPhone devices are already in the works.

Mike McCue, founder and general manager of Tellme, reportedly said the idea behind this application is that people are getting increasingly frustrated with cell phones getting smaller and smaller with more and more functions being crammed into them. Getting anything done is becoming difficult with having to navigate all those complex menus. McCue explained that while Tellme's application is different from Microsoft's Sync system, eventually the two experiences will become much more similar. The application has been first launched on the BlackBerry instead of Microsoft's own platform because of BlackBerry's support for the Java programming language, McCue said.

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