According to several sources, Google is set to release an iPhone app that allows you to speak your Google queries through the phone. Google then sends search results back in text. The application is set to be released on the App Store Friday.
It's not the first time Google has made speech queries accessible. Earlier this year, Google announced GOOG-411, a telephone based information service that uses Google results (as a side note, even my home telephone has a GOOG-411 fast dial button built into it).
However, the immediate reaction to the application is of its questionable usage. Questions like: are people that desperate to avoid the iPhone's touch-screen keyboard? For example, Daring Fireball questions its usefulness:
"Is it really going to be more convenient than just typing out 'how tall is mount everest' in the Safari search field? I'm highly skeptical."
But a good friend of mine reminded me that a lot more people can talk than can type. My question is, how many of them own an iPhone?
[tip of the hat to John Markoff and the New York Times.]
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