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Tim Cook Emphasizes Importance of Voice Messaging, Sparking iWatch Speculation

Ugh

Tiger8 said:
WhatsApp had the ability to send voice text for months, if not years. Apple is late to the party here.
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They were also late to the digital music party, the smartphone party, the laptop party, etc...

Who cares who did it first? If it's better, iOS users will love it.
 
So why not just call someone instead of exchanging 300 voice messages? It's bad enough that people walk around oblivious to their surroundings texting all day and night, now they'll be walking around with their wrist in their mouths all the time. At least texting is silent for the most part.
 
To the Surprise of No One

It is not known if Apple has plans to build a similar feature into the iWatch, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. Rumors have previously suggested Siri's voice-recognition capabilities might play an important role on the device given its limited screen size, and voice messages may be another natural fit.
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Why is this written as if it even may be out of the realm of possibility. Of course this functionality would be part of the iWatch, it's already been announced for iOS8. It's certainly not shipping with an onscreen or bluetooth keyboard. If you're just waking up from under a rock... voice control, no matter what the platform, is well on is way to becoming ubiquitous.
 
I don't know how the current apps work (WeChat for instance) but the main use case is pretty simple:
1). Tap Message icon
2) tap Record
3). Speak message
4) tap Contact icon (tapping this icon tells the app the message is complete and stop recording)
5) say Contact name (I.e. John Doe mobile and the app populates the contact mobile number)
6) tap Send

Your Contact receives a Notification and they tap on it to play. The real issue would be if they also have a SmartWatch does the watch have good enough speakers that they can actually hear the message directly from the watch. Otherwise, do they have to pull out their phone anyway? Seems to me that it must be functional on both the sending and receiving end in order to be widely adopted.

Be interesting to see if Apple has figured out a way to shorten the process from 6 steps. Might be able to shorten it by designating a hardware button that when pressed, it opens the app and starts recording immediately. This could be integrated into the same Message app. To have a dedicated hardware button seems rather 'unApple' to me but who knows...they would have to think this is really, really important and much wanted for that to happen.

This is certainly something I would use even on my phone since I'm not the fastest typist. For me it's not the 'killer' app necessary to interest me in the watch but I'm sure the younger crowd would like it. If for nothing else than the initial novelty.

(Edit) as for just calling someone, well, I for one, hate talking on the phone. Much easier to just send a text for simple question/answer issues. Also, many times the person I need to tell something is unavailable for a phone call. Sending a text usually gets me the result I need much faster. (I.e. 'I'll pick the kids up from school this afternoon, ok?". A return text of 'ok' works great. No waiting for them to pick up the phone, have the usual "hi, how are you, doing great, want me to pick up the kids?, yes, fine, have a great day, bye" , or let it ring and go to voice mail and wait for a return call. 1, 2 and done, out the door.
 
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Huh?

AppleScruff1 said:
So why not just call someone instead of exchanging 300 voice messages? It's bad enough that people walk around oblivious to their surroundings texting all day and night, now they'll be walking around with their wrist in their mouths all the time. At least texting is silent for the most part.
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Because real-time phone calls aren't always necessary, but it's really great to hear someone's voice. I could sit down and return messages like email and I'm betting a lot of people would dig that.

Phone calls, at least since we started carrying cell phones, are extremely disruptive. At least with this option, each party knows exactly what to expect.
 
26139 said:
Because real-time phone calls aren't always necessary, but it's really great to hear someone's voice. I could sit down and return messages like email and I'm betting a lot of people would dig that.

Phone calls, at least since we started carrying cell phones, are extremely disruptive. At least with this option, each party knows exactly what to expect.
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I don't doubt that in uses like you have described it would be a good thing. But I see what the masses do with texting and I have no reason to doubt that the same think will occur with voice messaging. A group of kids sitting at the same table voice messaging each other instead of texting like they do now. And then it will hit the movie theater crowds, etc. I see the potential for it to be quite annoying.
 
Yup

AppleScruff1 said:
I don't doubt that in uses like you have described it would be a good thing. But I see what the masses do with texting and I have no reason to doubt that the same think will occur with voice messaging. A group of kids sitting at the same table voice messaging each other instead of texting like they do now. And then it will hit the movie theater crowds, etc. I see the potential for it to be quite annoying.
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Anyone using their smartphone during a movie should be dragged out and beaten, anyway.
 
I despise the voice message facility of Weixin and other chat apps. It always makes me explicitly prepare what I want to say beforehand. if I realise I 'erm' even once, I end up re-recording the message a number of times. By the time I'm happy with it, it would have been easier to just type it.

AppleScruff1 said:
So why not just call someone instead of exchanging 300 voice messages? It's bad enough that people walk around oblivious to their surroundings texting all day and night, now they'll be walking around with their wrist in their mouths all the time. At least texting is silent for the most part.
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Unfortunately it seriously happens all the time. Shanghai is a noisy city and this just makes it worse. It's also about costs though, voice minutes are still charged at a higher rate than a minute of compressed audio data. I guess also for people who still talk to one another rather than message, it's perfect for cross platform voice communication. It normally stops you talking over someone as well. Ugh I can see the future and i don't like it!
 
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26139 said:
Anyone using their smartphone during a movie should be dragged out and beaten, anyway.
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Agreed, but it happens a lot. Go for a coffee, someone will be standing in line talking on the phone or texting. Texting isn't annoying, but voice messaging might be if it is a continuous exchange. I guess I have visions of the Nextel days in my head. It was a good service for businesses, but it also got to be so annoying.
 
mazz0 said:
Right, when I get home I'm so testing this out! Do I need to turn it on somewhere?
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I don't think so, I hear the tone or a moment of silence when I get a message, I call Siri and say "read my message"; she leads from there.

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What I'd really like to see in a watch is video phone. Just like Dick Tracy. But, then again; I want a jet pack too.
 
Perhaps, they use voice messaging in China because it's not that easy to type on a phone in Chinese characters? Could this be why?
 
sirozha said:
Perhaps, they use voice messaging in China because it's not that easy to type on a phone in Chinese characters? Could this be why?
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Because it's easier to express your thoughts by voice.

Typing you realize you need to check for grammar, spelling, and you can't type tone of voice.

I've seen people text in Chinese (I'm bad at it), and they text way faster than I can in English.
 
darkslide29 said:
Nah, I still enjoy these Samsung comments immensely. Apple borrows tons too, but you can be sure Samsung will be borrowing this one, along with others.
Heck, I don't even know the history of this feature and they're likely borrowing it from someone else. Maybe even Samsung, making my post look dumb?? But when apple does it, that's when EVERYONE else follows. :cool:
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100% true! As soon as The 4.7" and 5.5" iPhone 6 are released you will notice that android Manufactures will ditch their 4" phones to follow apple once again.
 
Can't wait for this functionality. As a human race we evolve all the time. Being able to send voice messages over in a fast and convenient way will benefit us all if they do it correctly, which I am certain they will.
 
cfedu said:
100% true! As soon as The 4.7" and 5.5" iPhone 6 are released you will notice that android Manufactures will ditch their 4" phones to follow apple once again.
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Not sure what you mean. There are 4.7" and 5.5" Android smartphones in the market today (the Galaxy S3 released two years ago is 4.8", for example).
 
We've all been there with Dragon Naturally Speaking or other speak products..

Allow to self 50% of extra time to correct mistakes..


And this is how it will be with Voice Messaging...

Similar to how voice to text is usually is now days, you must speak clearly, not whisper, supported by a talkative crowd, or otherwise.

Apple still have to sort out the language/pronunciation barrier first, if this is every going to be good enough.
 
majordude said:
Dear God, all we need is people airing their conversations over a speaker. I can't deal with some people when they are silent.
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You don't remember when Nextel was popular?

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Dolorian said:
Not sure what you mean. There are 4.7" and 5.5" Android smartphones in the market today (the Galaxy S3 released two years ago is 4.8", for example).
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Perhaps he was being sarcastic.
 
currentinterest said:
My guess is that texting in Mandarin may take more effort than texting in some other languages, particularly when walking down the street. If so, what might be true for China may not hold for other parts of the world.
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You are right as I am a Chinese.
 
Michaelgtrusa said:
Aid penetration of China? The slave labor is not enough? Lets hope this new feature works out well.
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WeChat is incredibly popular in china because of this feature

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furam90 said:
You think Voice messaging will catch on? People still get awkward about even using Siri in public. I just don't see talking briefly to your wrist being a popular method of communication.
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Remember. Chinese market
 
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