…Continued from “The Nuance of Voice Control”…

Once again, though, it all comes down to application.

While we may be interested in how Dragon ID tech may work within an IVR system, Nuance seems focused instead on conquering the consumer market with their software.

In case having Dragon on your smartphone wasn’t mobile enough, the company announced plans to install Dragon Drive on a number of new BMW models this year.

Just like the rest of their software, Dragon Drive will enable hands and eyes-free communication so you can text, read the New York Times and look for a restaurant all while keeping your eyes on the road.

Now does this sound familiar to anyone else?

Like, oh say, Apple’s announcement that Siri will now be integrating its speech-rec services into new BMW, Mercedes, GM, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda models?

As if this weren’t enough of a similarity, Nuance has also announced a new smartphone speech-recognition program nicknamed Nina.

Nina and Siri. Both four-letter female names. Both computerized voices that sound shockingly similar. Both perform basic to relatively complex speech commands.

But just like our IVR tech versus every other computerized conversational tools, the difference isn’t really in the concept but in the application and execution.

While Siri remains a smartphone-specific vocal service, Nuance is targeting Nina at third-party app developers.

More specifically, Nuance is going after large corporations like banks and insurance companies that are not only familiar with using IVR tech to keep customers happy but want to extend this tech to their smartphone apps.

While Nina and Siri are similar, the applications are completely different.

So if you’re a fan of smart phone apps and the hands-free functionality your bank’s IVR call center can provide, now thanks to Nuance, there’s an app for that.