Search giant Google on Tuesday showcased its voice search technology here, saying the application now supports English voice searches done using Indian accent as well.
Stating that the company expects to witness manifold growth in voice search in the next few years in India, Google India’s Head of Marketing Sandeep Menon said, “We deployed 700 volunteers across India to collect voice samples and used our engines to analyse the data.” Since all the analysis is cloud-based, the system “learns and gets better” as more people use it, he added.
Google, which offers voice-based search in 47 languages globally, may roll out services in Indian regional languages in future. “Right now, the number of voice searches are low for India but given the increasing penetration of smartphones, there would be a manifold increase in volume in the next few years,” Mr. Menon added.
The Google Voice Search feature is available for all users with devices running on Android version 2.3 onwards, along with those using Google Search app on iOS, and desktop computers via the Chrome browser. “We are committed to India. Though there is no timeline but I see no reason why other (Indian) languages will not be added to voice search,” he said.
Mr. Menon was also of the view that more regional content needed to be created to enrich the ecosystem. “While we are working on enabling better search experience, there is also a strong need for more regional content. That will lead to better search results and richer ecosystem for all,” he said.