Nuance just added support for Aussie accents and idioms, and expanded its SDK so local devs can add voice features in their iOS and Android apps. That’s pretty cool, but I wonder if this now means that Aussies won’t be left speechless in iOS 5 and the next iPhone. Here’s why.
Though Nuance-driven voice control isn’t in Apple’s current iOS 5 beta, there are leaked screenshots, and it’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll also see an enhanced voice ‘assistant’ based on tech Apple scored when it acquired Siri.
We don’t know if the ‘assistant’ will be over and above general voice control, but there is some speculation that if it is a stand-alone feature, it will be an iPhone 5 exclusive. Either way, Apple is clearly working with Nuance behind the scenes, and Nuance adding Australian English is good news for us.
Meanwhile, what’s been your experience with the Aussie accent and Android / Google’s voice control? I’ve heard mixed reports over the last year or so. Good to see that Nuance’s SDK was released for Android, too.