i3Mobile's Personal Assistant Offers Access to the News

i3Mobile customers can now access the latest news, stocks and weather reports via a speech technology powered mobile personal assistant called Pronto.

Nuance and i3Mobile announced that i3Mobile is using Nuance's speech software to provide customers with instant access to the information they need, anytime, anywhere. Pronto is a monthly subscription service that works on any telephone with virtually any calling plan. Pronto delivers information and service on demand 24 hours a day. Featuring speech recognition software from Nuance, Pronto members can access virtually any information they need just by asking -- from stock quotes, weather reports, driving directions and airline schedules to sports scores/odds, lottery results, movie schedules, reservations, ESPN SportsCenter Reports, Zagat restaurant reviews, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and much more.

"By combining telephony, computers and live operators we can provide our customers with a new level of convenience," said Wes Trager, executive vice president and chief technology officer, i3 Mobile. "Nuance's speech software is fast and versatile, accurately picking up Pronto customers' spoken requests even when they're calling from noisy environments, such as the inside of a car via a hands-free headset, or from an airport terminal."

"Speech solutions such as Pronto demonstrate that speech software provides a new type of self-service customer experience—one that should hold tremendous appeal to consumers looking to stay connected," said Ron Croen, president and CEO of Nuance.