Google’s voice recognition search application for the iPhone, originally set for launch on Friday, will likely go live sometime Monday, we’ve heard from a source with knowledge of the situation.
Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday. One source says they’ve had little direct contact with Apple during the review, instead getting their updates via the standard iPhone developer tool, which has said “in review” for the last few days.
Who knows why Apple delayed the application, or why they tend to treat every application developer equally poorly.
But in this case Apple really screwed up in our opinion.
If the application is half as good as the demo video shows, Google has done something pretty amazing with voice recognition and mobile platforms. This application will, quite simply, sell iPhones. Lots of them.
Google faced a decision on which mobile platform to first launch the application – the iPhone or their own Android. The fact that they decided to launch first on the iPhone shows a willingness to embrace what’s right for the user, and it’s something that few other companies would have done. Google could have launched for the Android first and pushed sales of phones on their platform. They didn’t, and Apple should have embraced them for that.
Next time I expect Google won’t be so trusting. And I don’t blame them.
True, but I think you’re missing the point here. Google didn’t released it for the iPhone first, since quite frankly they don’t care which phone you use so long as you use their services, Google doesn’t make any money on phones running Android.
Definitely waiting for it to have this Voice Recog apps.. It is a necessary thing these days
“This application will, quite simply, sell iPhones. Lots of them.”
Uh huh. Yeah… because the iPhone hasn’t sold very well without this. Come on.
Pretty horrible launch for such a enticing app.
Good points re android, I think Google will always embrace the iphone, they of course have already seen the traffic growth from the iphone browser agent in their reports.
At the same times they’ll do what they do best, look for weak spots in others offerings and build/acquire better.
also, the app store hasn’t generated enough rev. to warrant some weekend staff?
They do have weekend staff; I’ve had applications approved on both Saturday and Sunday previously.
There’s something else at play here. Like making Google wait in the same line as everyone else.
The iPhone is certainly an attractive platform, but when you work with Apple, you really are making a deal with the Devil. This just goes to show that there is no developer (or partner) too large to be screwed over by Apple.
man, this just goes to show what a disaster the iPhone app release process is. i haven’t met a single person who thinks it’s a good experience.
on a positive note, the google app seems like a dream come true. it’s also the first time i’ve seen google supporting anything resembling like natural language search. if that’s what they’re trying to do, it’s a brilliant way to introduce it. much more likely that people are going to do natural language queries while speaking into the phone, rather than typing them into a search box where it’s easier to just type specific keywords.
good game, google. moving the stick again.
May be..Apple is feeling that it is ‘not allowed’ type of app. So bad on Apple’s part
Google Mobile app has been in the app store for months
they either have just done an update or for some reason using the same same. check,… search google mobile app and u get the old version
why people consider Apple screwed up cause someone says hey it is getting released on Friday and they have to wait till monday
I dont see the big deal at all… there are more important things in the world than having to wait a few more days for a app to be updated .. I sometimes think we might need to get a real life.
Dude, read the article. This Google app release has voice recognition. Massive update to the Google app. Yes, the Google app has been in the store for quite some time, but not *this voice recognition version*.
Jeeze, people just post away without reading the dang article first. Yeesh.
Great
“This application will, quite simply, sell iPhones. Lots of them.”
Why do people think this application is so amazing?
We don’t yet know the accuracy of the voice recognition, and how lazy are we going to get where typing in a search query of a few words is too much effort.
You sir, must never drive a car.
I hope you made lotsa spaghetti!
“The fact that they decided to launch first on the iPhone shows a willingness to embrace what’s right for the user, and it’s something that few other companies would have done.”
No, it shows that the Android/G1 is an extremely immature platform that isn’t ready to handle this kind of application right now.
That…and the iPhone has sold a gajillion handsets and the Android has sold a couple hundred thousand. It’s not “what’s right for the user” as THAT would have been a simultaneous release for all major mobile platforms.
It’s just good sense to target a large and quickly-growing market.
The G1 already has voice search through contacts. So “isn’t ready to handle this kind of application right now” isn’t the case. Voice search is already an integral part of the OS, they’ll probably find a smoother way to integrate it. It would be a bit dumb to have contact search in Google Mobile App and then have the standard contact voice search in the Dialer. The other side to this could be, they’re not willing to hose T-mobile who is no doubt getting their bandwidth issues worked out, by having voice clips flying around all over their network, everytime someone does a search; this could also be the same reason why this is delaying the iPhone launch. Consideration for AT&T.
Monday or Friday is quite the same. If the application is as good as they say it is, it worth waiting…
I think here you are giving too much credit to Google by saying they embracing iPhone in addition to Andriod. Of course they will, as they also have to think about their own search market. I think here both companies are being selfing. I don’t think anyone alone is being a bad guy.
now all we need is a half decent voice recognition app that isnt as flaky as the current dialers so you can actually use the iphone as a phone when you need to in a car ….
The hope for speech recognition that works while you’re driving is quite a big one because there will be a serious amount of background noise. HOWEVER if you are using a noise-reducing headset (and there is only one on the market that does any good) you might just get away with this…
I’ve yet to find voice recognition software that works well, without training, across all markets. If Google have tested this with British Accents I’ll be impressed…. but as someone pointed out…let’s wait and see what it’s really like and what environmental conditions restrict the usefulness of it…
looking forward to testing it out and quite happy to wait til Monday… I’m sure all this press about delays has helped raise the profile so they won’t be that worried!
Jott works quite well for me and it also works quite well for my friend. my friend has a thick Indian accent that some of my other friends have a difficult time understanding. jott works great. there are a number of Speech-to-Text companies that work as well (spinvox, lumenvox, etc.)
Jott uses real people the transcribe what you say to it. It takes quite a while to do this, as well. It’s not instant, and somebody on the other end is listening to every word you say to it. That’s a really creepy level of someone else getting into your private musings…
Have you tried VoiceBoxDial? I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Apple has voice recognition application in Mac OS for a long time. I wonder if they plan to compete with Google on this (if Mac OS can translate the voice to text, then it can use the “regular” Google search).
my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
Microsoft seems to have beaten Google and Apple to to the punch this time around:
http://livesear...dows_mobile.htm
“why people consider Apple screwed up cause someone says hey it is getting released on Friday and they have to wait till monday. I dont see the big deal at all… there are more important things in the world than having to wait a few more days for a app to be updated .. I sometimes think we might need to get a real life.”
I completely agree with that !!!
Am I hearing people right? “Disaster” “Deal with the Devil”? This was something that was supposed to be released on FRIDAY that instead got released on MONDAY.
There is no doubt that Apple would be way more popular with developers if the process was more transparent. But come on, Apple is screwing Google by making them wait through the weekend? Lets call this what it is, a small timing detail on a free application from a large corporation.
Everyone is going to survive this.
“Really screwing up” these days means inconveniencing 15 bloggers for 3 days. GM and the banking industry? That’s “business as usual.”
An app is delayed a business day is a “extraordinary event”? What a drama queen. Looks great but there is nothing amazing about this in terms of mobile platforms – google has something similar for blackberry pearls (so does TellMe) and there are several voice search apps for winmo.
So Google was “under the impression” that the app would be available on Friday, despite having “little direct contact with Apple during the review,” and Apple is somehow at fault that the big G prematurely fired off its press rush?
Don’t get me wrong, Apple continues to royally screw up the App Store on a many levels, but this assessment is ridiculous. There may be a conversation around giving major third parties like Google some kind of preferential treatment, but if Google is using the same uninformative tools as every other iPhone app developer, they had no clue when the app was coming. They simply couldn’t wait to get the news out.
Of course, most of this musing is pretty pointless considering the fact that the New York Times piece that broke this news to begin with said the app could be available “as soon as Friday.” Not “definitely, beyond a doubt, stick-a-needle-in-my-eye Friday.” Christ.
I’ve read many accounts of users locked out of their GMAil/Google accounts, desperately trying to get in touch with a human at the company with no luck…
so on one hand it’s sort of amusing to see Google is being made to look foolish by Apple’s similar customer service policy…
But on the other hand – this looks like a killer, “game changing” type of app – and I’ve been checking for updates every few hours this weekend since I saw the video.
I hope it gets approved – but I’ve got an inkling it won’t.
I’ve been looking forward to this, and having the launch delayed, isn’t really a huge issue for me. However Google must be a bit pissed with Apple right now.
I do think, however, that this will be another feature that I won’t use all that often, Since for some reason, the data transfer rates when on 3g are really bad for me (in the UK). And if i’m on a wireless network, it’s usually because I am at home or somewhere with a PC in reach, so i’d just end up searching the normal way.
I’ll give it a test to see what it’s like, but I doubt it’ll be in my regularly used apps list.
Meantime, check out http://vlingo.com, who will have an app for the iPhone soon. VERY impressive. Does what the Google app does plus a whole lot more.
WE’LL all be happy on Monday. Please chill. This New World of Internet puts everyone in a RUSH for everything now. It’s the “I can’t wait” for it.
“they tend to treat every application developer equally poorly”
They haven’t treated us poorly – they’ve been great! So either that statement isn’t true, or they’ve been great to Google and everyone else, too.
“This application will, quite simply, sell iPhones. Lots of them.”
You are a much bigger fan of voice recognition than I am, my friend.
Michael:
> But in this case Apple really screwed up in our opinion.
Really? Google admittedly used only the iPhone developer web site to be sure of the release date. Everyone knows that the iPhone release process isn’t really firing on all cylinders at the moment, which clearly needs to be addressed, but…
Launching tons of PR without even taking the 30 seconds it takes to see if your application is live is about the most bone-headed move you can make in PR/marketing. I don’t see in any way how this is Apple’s fault.
And yes, I understand that some things have to be put in motion ahead of time, but hey, if you are planning on making a lot of noise about an app, then maybe you should coordinate it with the retailer that’s in charge of putting it on the shelves! Especially, if say, this relationship is between Google and Apple, and you already have high-level relations, like say, for instance, sitting on each other’s boards.
This was frankly just really bad execution on the part of the PM’s at the Google Mobile App team. And I’ll bet you they’ve learned their lesson and will make sure things are on-track for the big release.
my understanding is that google was greenlighted by real people, and then apple went dark and would only reply via the software.
If the voice recognition is the same thing they’re using for Goog-411 then it will be hopeless. I couldn’t get it to recognize very common words like “pizza” and simple names, and when it did, half the time it returned the wrong information.
If the iphone app uses that backend, it will be pointless. I’ll stick with free-411 which seems to work 90% of the time.
I don’t see why you think this is a killer app. Besides, Google’s voice recognition technology needs work – have you ever tried GOOG 411? It can be a pain.
My experience with getting apps approved has, in the politest terms, been horrible. I have been ignored, and lied to on multiple occasions, to cover their complete lack of either ability or professionalism.
Very disappointing to a former fan of the brand.
“…tend to treat every application developer equally poorly…” as well they should. Why should Google get special treatment? If anything, Apple should have blocked/denied this app and let Google strike out on it’s own platform… Why? the answer is already happening: people are blaming Apple for Googles tired mistakes.
Google loves passionate people using its products, whether we love it or hate it, google gets a ton of publicity.
For me google is still the leader that have not turned arrogant. Unlike Facebook, iphone (apple is always), microsoft etc, google still listens to people’s voice and concerns. I wish android gets better each day and some mobile company makes a good hardware for that. These guys have to be beaten and only google can do that.
“…google still listens to people’s voice and concerns…”
uh…. you are seriously trapped in an alternate dimension (i should say alternate dementia).
p.s. as far as this “only google can do it” … just because you really hate a giant evil company doesn’t mean you have to turn a blind eye while another giant evil company beats the shit out of them… they can all KMRIA…
You guys are frickin’ boneheads.
It’ll come Monday. GET A LIFE!
wow the early adapters tech nerds are having a fit that come monday they will have to share with the rest.
I’m sure that Apple is swamped with apps that need to be approved and I’m actually glad that they don’t let the big players skip the line and get approved quicker than smaller developers.
“Say I’m in San Francisco…”
Judging by his backdrop, I’d say he’s in Marin…
Q: Whats the hardest part of being a Google iPhone app spokesperson?
how unfortunate for the delay! i guess all us google/iphone fanatics will have to wait until monday.
in the meantime, if you guys enjoy voice recognition technology, go and visit:
http://www.vingtalk.com/cpp
they offer text-to-voice conversion and vice-versa for your text and voice mail!
You may want to come back and spam these boards when they have an iPhone version. I’m not running out and buying a half as useful phone just for your speech recognition software.
Has anyone consider this “delay” is just a publicity ploy by both companies? The delay has generated a tremendous amount of attention.
You know, Windows Mobile phones have had Live Search with voice recognition for over a year now. Works very well. Say “Sushi” into the phone and get a map of local sushi restaurants with ratings and distances, menus, one-click phone numbers. As usual, Apple is late to the game but grabbing as much PR as possible because of its massive inferiority distortion field…
I can’t wait to test the app out. Looks too good to be true..
with all the people looking to download this app,wondering how many places it will be posted for download besides itunes….?
As I see it, it’s a no-win situation for Apple. If they released the app at an appointed time, a lot of smaller devs would cry fowl: How can Google specify its launch date and time when I cannot? At least now, devs have a clearer indication that everyone plays on the same field. As a customer, I’ve grown accustomed to the app store’s available soon. That was fine by me for apps I know will get approved. I just don’t see a Monday or Tuesday release as being a problem.
I’m amazed at the “app store is broken” cries. Yes, it isn’t perfect. I’d love to see more refinement to finding apps, such as flagging, wish lists, trial periods, subcategories, and better granularity to reviews (such as stars since latest update or stars since particular date). But as a customer the app store works pretty well. It’s not that difficult from iTunes or the iPhone to find, buy and install apps (RSS feeds make it even easier). For something that’s existed only a few months, it works incredibly well. From my vantage point, it is incomplete, not broken.
On another note, why announce the app on a Friday, which I have long believed to be the worst day to break news.
JUST WONDERING
Just recently checked the App store and the the new version is not up yet.. Come on its Monday where is it?
Try asking your girlfriend. Oh… wait… I should have known. Sorry.
11:25 EST and still no update !!!!!
OMG! The sky is falling!
iphone haters get a life.