Voice-to-text provider SpinVox has inked a deal to bring its technology to users of Skype's internet telephony service. SpinVox says the service will launch some time before the end of the year.
Once the service is rolled in, when you place a call to a Skype user who isn't available, you can leave a message which will be translated into text and sent off to their mobile phone as a text message. Not only does this make it easier to reach a Skype user when they're on the go, but it's a bonus for the Skyper who is paranoid about missing messages while out to lunch, on the road or somewhere other that in front of the computer. Text messages can be forwarded to any mobile phone or device.
There's no word about whether or not Skype will continue to offer the similar service from SimulScribe it announced in February. The fact that SimulScribe is English-only while SpinVox works in English, German, Spanish and French is already an improvement (Both SimulScribe and SpinVox say more languages will be added later).
I've been using SpinVox to convert all of my mobile phone's incoming
voicemail for the past two weeks, and I can say I've been quite pleased
with the service. The text translation engine is usually spot on with
the conversions, even for tricky place names and colloquialisms.
The recipient will see the caller's Skype ID if one is available. Otherwise, they'll see the caller's phone number in the text message.
SpinVox is also pursuing partnerships with mobile carriers in the U.S. So, if you're a mobile voice service customer, you might see SpinVox's voice-to-text technology rolled into your plan (or offered as an option) around the end of the year.
