By: E&P Staff USA Today content will be available by natural voice access on BlackBerry mobile devices under a partnership with MobileVoiceControl Inc., Gannett Co. announced Tuesday.
BlackBerry users can access the USA Today content by pressing an assigned button on the device and speaking their request. The voice command launches the BlackBerry Browser, which opens to a page displayed the requested content.
The initial USA TODAY content will be real-time national news and information categorized similarly to its print product: News, Money, Sports, Life and Weather.
Local content from Gannett newspapers and television stations will be available in the future, the partnership said.
The solution is available on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network.
In the future, local content from Gannett newspaper and broadcast television stations will be available via the application. The solution is available on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network.
MobileVoiceControl said the system is downloadable to the user's BlackBerry handset over the air, and does not require user voice training.
"Mobile phones have always been a natural for speech recognition, but until now the technology did not exist to accurately and easily access this amount of information via speech," Matt Jones, director of Mobile Products for USATODAY.com, said in a statement. "This partnership is an excellent way to extend timely, relevant USA TODAY content and continue to meet our customer's needs for easy access to information while they are on the go."
MobileVoiceControl President Steve Burns said the company was attracted by USA Today's "trusted brand, broad array of content and commitment to bringing high quality applications to the mobile screen."
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