Motorola announced Wednesday a way for Web sites to make their information available in a simple phone call.
The company's Internet and Connectivity Services Division on Wednesday unveiled VoxML, a markup language that encodes Web-site information so it can be read over the telephone.
"[VoxML] allows consumers to access Internet or intranet information from any phone, wireless, or wireline," said Motorola's (MOT) Mitesh Patel. "And it leverages the skills of a huge base of developers who can use their Internet-development skills beyond the desktop."
The voice markup language allows for an assortment of speech technologies to be incorporated so information on the Web can speak through any phone. Sites can either convert the text of Web pages to computerized speech, play prerecorded audio content, or construct sentences out of prerecorded words and phrases -- such as "partly sunny" for a weather report.
Other efforts to funnel the Web to telephones and handheld devices include "Web phones" with built-in screens. And the Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) displays Web data via the tiny screens of compatible cell phones.
Unlike those efforts, VoxML would not require any special telephone equipment on the user's end.
"Developers were excited when they first heard about HDML," Patel said. "But because it does require special devices for consumers to purchase before they can access services, it put a strain on the take-up rate. Access here is only a phone." Service providers aren't limited to a particular type of device, he said, to extend their reach to the telephones.
Motorola announced that the Weather Channel, CBS MarketWatch.com, and some traffic and travel sites have already begun testing VoxML to extend the reach of their content services. These participants deliver information in short form, such as weather reports, stock prices, and bank account information.
"You can access these things [by phone] now, said Motorola spokeswoman Lois Mentrup, "but you have to enter as many as 20 numbers. This lets you get access to that information with two or three queries -- tops." It also extends the reach of the Internet, she said. "Phones reach 95 percent of the population."
Companies will be able to share internal information located on company networks -- like the latest sales or inventory information -- with employees in the field.
With varying sophistication and "voice-service providers," which Motorola plans to establish, sites can have their content read to callers or play prerecorded sound files over the phone. Motorola said the voice-driven commands and VoxML's use of existing Web content make it better than existing phone-based information services and attractive to online content providers.
