Vlingo's Virtual Assistant Is the New Gateway to the Internet

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and LONDON, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Vlingo Corporation, the maker of the Vlingo Virtual Assistant that turns words into actions, today released details of the 2011 roadmap for its Virtual Assistant service. By combining core speech recognition technology, natural language processing, location awareness and Vlingo's proprietary Intent Engine, the Vlingo Virtual Assistant understands the users intent, takes the desired action, and intelligently connects users to the people, businesses and services that are important to them.

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With the mobile web, people are more interested in task completion than information retrieval, changing the way they want to interact with their phones and internet-enabled devices.  Typing short keywords and phrases will be replaced by more detailed and natural inputs, like voice commands.  And the context of the search – elements like location and historical preferences – will be as important as the content of the search itself.  This paradigm shift puts Vlingo's Virtual Assistant in a unique position to change the way people access information.

"The way people engage with the internet is fundamentally changing," said Ashley Griffiths, Managing Director, EMEA at Vlingo. "The market opportunity will be even greater than the historical desktop-based internet. Vlingo is positioned to be the mobile internet interface through which a user's intent is translated into action."

Over 7 million users already use Vlingo an average of 5 times a day from their smartphone's to connect to the people, businesses and services that are important to them.  In 2011 Vlingo will deploy its cloud-based Virtual Assistant across multiple platforms and devices including tablets, autos, TV and PCs.  Through simple, natural commands, users can complete a wide array of tasks with their connected device.

• "Hotels in Chicago for tomorrow night"
• "Where is Black Swan playing?"
• "Find Italian restaurants nearby"
• "Where can I get a burrito?"
• "Tell Dave I'm running late"

Vlingo currently leverages partners such as Google, YellowPages.com, foursquare, Fandango, Kayak and OpenTable to complete tasks and monetize usage.  This year Vlingo will greatly expand its partnerships in Europe and beyond to allow users access a wide variety of services quickly and easily.  

Tablets: Vlingo comes as a preferred application on the Samsung Galaxy worldwide.  Users can enjoy the same functionality on tablets as on a mobile phone. Vlingo can also be downloaded on the iPad.

Autos: Leading car manufactures will be able to incorporate Vlingo into their platforms.  Connected car drivers can share their vehicle location over e-mail, SMS, or Facebook, send and respond by voice to text messages through a paired mobile phone, and give the car instructions by voice from turning up the air conditioning to playing music or finding a petrol station – all completely hands free.

TVs: Vlingo will announce its initial deployments with leading TV manufacturers that will allow users to talk naturally to their TVs to do anything from changing channels to recording all their football team's matches while they're away on holiday, to finding movies starring their favorite actor.

PCs: PC users will be able to incorporate most Vlingo functions onto their PC that they would do with their mobile phone.  First deployments will be in late 2011.

Availability

Users worldwide can currently experience Vlingo on their mobile phones and tablets.  Click here to see future of Vlingo's Virtual Assistant.  Vlingo supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Mandarin with more language support coming in 2011.  For a full list of platforms and languages Vlingo supports, visit www.vlingo.com.

Vlingo will also be at Mobile World Congress on February 14 – 17, 2011.  Click here to set up an in-person briefing.

About Vlingo

Vlingo is a Virtual Assistant that turns your words into action by combining speech recognition, natural language processing, and Vlingo's Intent Engine to understand the user's intent and take the appropriate action. Simply speak to your phone to connect with the people, businesses and activities that are important to you.  Vlingo is the safest and easiest way to get things done while on the go. Send text and email messages, search the web, use Google maps, update Twitter and more. Founded in 2006, Vlingo is backed by Charles River Ventures.

SOURCE Vlingo Corporation