For years, brokers have been able to get real-time quotes over Bloomberg and other proprietary computer networks, but this information is finally reaching a broader, less plugged-in segment of the population.
Using some of the most advanced speech-recognition software around, Charles Schwab's system relates real-time stock quotes over the telephone. It recognizes more than 13,000 securities, said 2 million different ways.
The Schwab technology portends a larger Net-induced trend toward distributed information and decentralized finance. "If you're talking to your broker and Mr. Rich Guy calls, your broker will dump you in a second," says SRI Consulting principal Bob Morgen. "This system doesn't dump you. It's so user-friendly that someone who doesn't know better wouldn't even think of the network and computer behind it."
