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Google Targets Voice Searches - WSJ.com

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Microsoft announced plans to buy Tellme Networks Inc. for a price that people familiar with the matter put at $800 million. The closely held Silicon Valley company specializes in services that combine voice-recognition technology with the Web, and already provides automated directory-assistance services for AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC.

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Yahoo, of Sunnyvale, Calif., in January launched a cellphone-search service called oneSearch that requires people to type queries into a handset browser or to send text messages. But Yahoo officials say spoken queries could eventually become an option; two executives from Tellme recently joined Yahoo

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Until recently, voice recognition has mainly been used by telephone carriers and companies to lower their costs by reducing the need for live operators. Recently, that technology also has been used by some new entrants to provide free, ad-supported alternatives to paid directory assistance, such as Jingle Networks Inc.'s 1-800-FREE411 service.

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Google's experimental service, like the Web, can work even if callers don't know the name of a business they want. A user can ask about a type of business, such as a coffee shop, and specify an intersection or ZIP Code. The service will read off a list of nearby businesses that fit the criteria

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Tellme in a service it has been testing, is to let users start with a spoken query, but display the results from that question on the display screen of their handset. Besides the name of a pizza shop, for example, a user could instantly see a map to it.

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Verizon, using technology from start-up Medio Systems Inc., allows users to speak the name of ringtones, games or other things they want to buy.

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Microsoft, besides mobile search, says it plans to use Tellme technology to add voice input for many products, including computers and hand-held devices. A spokeswoman for Google said, "having quick, free access to local business information over the phone may prove to be very valuable to our end users."

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