A recent article in MercuryNews.com noted that “the spoken word is becoming an effective way to overcome the frustrations and limitations of typing on a smartphone.”

As proof, it pointed to the fact that Google and Microsoft now offer speech-enabled Web search on a variety of mobile platforms and that, “a growing number of iPhone (News - Alert) and Android apps -- and services like Google Voice and YouTube's recent launch of automatic captioning of videos -- can transcribe speech into text.”

It cited Mike Cohen, Google (News - Alert)'s manager of speech technology, saying “speech will soon be an option for almost every function of a mobile device.”

Recently, TMC’s Susan J. Campbell reported that Loquendo (News - Alert) text to speech is now integrated into VXI*VoiceXML browser for Asterisk platforms. This news was shared by Loquendo, global speech technology provider and I6NET, provider of IVR/IVVR IP/3G telephony solutions for Asterisk (News - Alert).

“As a result of the I6NET VXI for Asterisk platform, customers will be able to connect Loquendo’s TTS voices to send and receive voice and video messages, access podcasts, newspapers and more by using Loquendo’s highly intelligible and human-like text-to-speech,” she noted.

In fact, the MercuryNews.com said, the technology “has evolved to a point where speech is a central feature on the Nexus One, allowing users to speak a tweet, an e-mail or a Facebook update.”

'2010 is the year when speech goes mainstream,' Dariusz Paczuski, senior director for Tellme (News - Alert) Mobile Speech, a Mountain View company that became a unit of Microsoft in 2007, told MercuryNews. 'There have been years and years of speech applications and many of them have failed, but you're hitting a convergence point where a lot of technologies are coming together.'

For the 2009 financial year, Loquendo grew its installed base of best of breed speech technologies to more than 110 thousand ports worldwide, company officials say, with 'double-digit growth on 2008 figures' while 'developing strategic alliances with key players in all market segments.'

Over 10 million mobile and on-board navigation systems carrying Loquendo Technologies are deployed around the world, company officials say.

For more, check out the Speech Recognition channel on TMCnet.