PhonePe owned Indus Appstore on Wednesday integrated the voice search feature in ten Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu to expand its user base and adoption. The homegrown appstore aims to cover 75 percent local language speakers among the internet users in the country.
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We are currently working on building speech-to-text algorithms in 2 additional Indian languages and aim to cover 95% of native Indian language speakers, said Akash Dongre, Co-founder and CPO, Indus Appstore.
According to the Indus Appstore, the voice search feature uses a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning ensuring accuracy, understanding of accents and speech patterns to get the desired output.
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The company also believes that this new feature is a positive development for app developers as it is proven to boost app installs. To use, users have to tap the voice search button.
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“Traditional text-based searches in regional languages pose numerous challenges, including the need for specialized keyboards and complex character compositions. These hurdles hinder the users’ search experience,” said Dongre.
Indus Appstore is an Android-based mobile app store available in 12 languages for users and developers. It competes with Google’s Play Store in India.
“The new voice search feature is our effort towards creating an inclusive and accessible app store. With 82% of smartphone users engaging in voice-activated technology, integration of Indian languages has been the strongest growth driver for tech across the six-to-sixty age spectrum. The user-centric feature positions Indus Appstore at the forefront of transformative Voice Technology that is the need of the decade,” said Dongre.