Vlingo's Virtual Assistant Is the New Gateway to the Internet
By Vlingo Corporation, PRNETuesday, February 8, 2011
Expands its Virtual Assistant to Support Most Connected Devices Worldwide
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts and LONDON, February 9, 2011 - Vlingo Corporation, the maker of the Vlingo Virtual Assistant that turns
words into actions, today released details of the 2011 roadmap for its
Virtual Assistant service. By combining core speech recognition technology,
natural language processing, location awareness and Vlingo's proprietary
Intent Engine, the Vlingo Virtual Assistant understands the users intent,
takes the desired action, and intelligently connects users to the people,
businesses and services that are important to them.
(Logo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100715/NE35214LOGO )
With the mobile web, people are more interested in task completion than
information retrieval, changing the way they want to interact with their
phones and internet-enabled devices. Typing short keywords and phrases will
be replaced by more detailed and natural inputs, like voice commands. And the
context of the search - elements like location and historical preferences -
will be as important as the content of the search itself. This paradigm shift
puts Vlingo's Virtual Assistant in a unique position to change the way people
access information.
"The way people engage with the internet is fundamentally changing," said
Ashley Griffiths, Managing Director, EMEA at Vlingo. "The market opportunity
will be even greater than the historical desktop-based internet. Vlingo is
positioned to be the mobile internet interface through which a user's intent
is translated into action."
Over 7 million users already use Vlingo an average of 5 times a day from
their smartphone's to connect to the people, businesses and services that are
important to them. In 2011 Vlingo will deploy its cloud-based Virtual
Assistant across multiple platforms and devices including tablets, autos, TV
and PCs. Through simple, natural commands, users can complete a wide array of
tasks with their connected device.
- "Hotels in Chicago for tomorrow night" - "Where is Black Swan playing?" - "Find Italian restaurants nearby" - "Where can I get a burrito?" - "Tell Dave I'm running late"
Vlingo currently leverages partners such as Google, YellowPages.com,
foursquare, Fandango, Kayak and OpenTable to complete tasks and monetize
usage. This year Vlingo will greatly expand its partnerships in Europe and
beyond to allow users access a wide variety of services quickly and easily.
Tablets: Vlingo comes as a preferred application on the Samsung Galaxy
worldwide. Users can enjoy the same functionality on tablets as on a mobile
phone. Vlingo can also be downloaded on the iPad.
Autos: Leading car manufactures will be able to incorporate Vlingo into
their platforms. Connected car drivers can share their vehicle location over
e-mail, SMS, or Facebook, send and respond by voice to text messages through
a paired mobile phone, and give the car instructions by voice from turning up
the air conditioning to playing music or finding a petrol station - all
completely hands free.
TVs: Vlingo will announce its initial deployments with leading TV
manufacturers that will allow users to talk naturally to their TVs to do
anything from changing channels to recording all their football team's
matches while they're away on holiday, to finding movies starring their
favorite actor.
PCs: PC users will be able to incorporate most Vlingo functions onto
their PC that they would do with their mobile phone. First deployments will
be in late 2011.
Availability
Users worldwide can currently experience Vlingo on their mobile phones
and tablets. Click here (www.youtube.com/user/VlingoVoice) to see
future of Vlingo's Virtual Assistant. Vlingo supports English, French,
Italian, German, Spanish and Mandarin with more language support coming in
2011. For a full list of platforms and languages Vlingo supports, visit
www.vlingo.com.
Vlingo will also be at Mobile World Congress on February 14 - 17, 2011.
Click here (erin@vlingo.com) to set up an in-person briefing.
About Vlingo
Vlingo is a Virtual Assistant that turns your words into action by
combining speech recognition, natural language processing, and Vlingo's
Intent Engine to understand the user's intent and take the appropriate
action. Simply speak to your phone to connect with the people, businesses and
activities that are important to you. Vlingo is the safest and easiest way to
get things done while on the go. Send text and email messages, search the
web, use Google maps, update Twitter and more. Founded in 2006, Vlingo is
backed by Charles River Ventures.
Erin Keleher, Vlingo, +1-617-283-2285, erin at vlingo.com
Tags: Cambridge, England, February 9, Massachusetts, Massachusetts And London, Vlingo Corporation