Google Voice

The Gorilla has landed. In the world of automated speech to text transcription, the almighty google has put its foot down. Any company out there that was relying on software only is going to have a tough time ahead. Give them a few months and I bet there will be an API to access their automated transcription and then watch for over limits pricing via google AppEngine. More here. 

New players in the field

Looks like a couple more have joined in the human powered voicemail to text arena.

First comes Jott who started off as a notes transcription service has now moved onto voicemail. Price is $9.95 a month for 40 voicemails and 35 cents each additional.

The new kid on the block is Trapcall at $9.95 a month for 10 voicemails or $24.95 unlimited. Trapcall goes a bit further with their service and supports call recording and unmasking blocked callerID.

This is more evidence that software powered transcription is too premature for primetime. With the conomy the way it is, it'll be cheaper to have humans do the work that computers used to do!