Nuance Launches Self-Service Mobile Developer Program

Nuance Communications has started providing access to the Dragon Mobile SDK for iOS and Android via a new self-service Web site as part of the Nuance Mobile Developer Program. Now mobile developers are able to leverage the  dictation and voice search capabilities at the core of the Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search apps, as well as Nuance’s  Vocalizer text-to-speech (TTS).

The Dragon Mobile SDK is now available through the Nuance Mobile Developer Program for Apple iOS 4.0 (iPhone/iPad/iPod touch) and for many devices running Android 2.1 and higher. The SDK currently supports U.S. and U.K. English, European Spanish, European French, German, Italian, and Japanese for dictation and search, with additional languages to be added through the end of the year. TTS capabilities exist for more than 35 languages.

The Nuance Mobile Developer Program gives developers instant access to prepackaged wrappers and widgets for  inclusion of voice recognition into their applications, all through a self-service Web site. Developers also have access to an online forum for additional support, a variety of code samples, and full documentation.

“The mobile application explosion is in flight with Apple nearing 10 billion downloads and Android apps expanding rapidly,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager at Nuance Mobile. “We’ve created an amazingly simple way for developers to innovate privately and securely on the two fastest growing platforms in the world.”

Many developers have already experienced the power of the Dragon Mobile SDK for their apps, including Siri, Price Check by Amazon, Ask for iPhone, aisle411, Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and SpeechTrans.

“Integrating Nuance’s intuitive voice recognition brought a new level of user interaction to our Ask for iPhone question and answer service. Finding information is incredibly easy when you can simply speak a question versus having to type it in,” said Tony Gentile, senior vice president, products, Ask.com US.

“Voice-enabling our app was simple with the Dragon Mobile SDK, letting people easily look up words that they've heard but don't know how to spell. And for many of our users, speaking directly to the dictionary is an intuitive and enjoyable experience," said Miles Kronby, chief product officer of digital, Merriam-Webster.

“The Dragon Mobile SDK has allowed us to quickly and easily voice-enable our Dictionary.com app for both iPhone and Android, giving our consumers an amazing voice search experience across two unique platforms,” said Lisa Cross-Sullivan, GM Mobile, Dictionary.com

Developers can download the Dragon Mobile SDK and have access to the cloud-based speech services for 90 days absolutely free. And once ready for market distribution, developers have tiered pricing options to accommodate their unique needs and those of their applications. Nuance also offers a range of developer customization programs, including specialized language models and application optimization.