VUIs are more than a technological advancement in the voice technology era. VUIs are the next Internet of Things (IoT), ready to skyrocket into a untapped market for the software developers. Amazon Echo and Google Home interconnect home appliances, play music using Spotify, play podcasts of radio stations, stream Netflix movies on demand with a voice command, send messages to friends and family without the use of mobile phones, start a hot shower during the winter, brew a pot of coffee, ask a Samsung refrigerator what needs to be restocked, ask the home air conditioning system to set the heater to 74 degrees in 20 minutes after coming home from a long vacation, and more. The sky's the limit!
Currently, in Amazon Alexa, there are 15,000 voice applications, and Google Home has around 1,000. Many of these voice applications are not even in production yet; you will see a boom in voice applications in the coming year 2019. Many of the big players, such as Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb, and Snapchat have not released any voice applications yet. Look at Logitech releasing the automobile voice interfaces (http://engt.co/2khYV5z) for Ford, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Watch the Samsung and LG refrigerators utilizing VUIs closely (http://on.mash.to/2B4Oj2i). Take a look at Google Pixel Buds (http://bit.ly/2kSP7Uo), which can translate Spanish to English. Imagine a Spanish speaker talking to an English speaker while both wearing Google Pixel Buds; they would be able to communicate with each other. What will companies who create dating applications such as Tinder, Match, OkCupid, and POF bring to the world of voice? What about the educational sector? How about the transportation sector? How about voice-enabled gaming? How about voice-enabled ticketing systems for movie theaters? The possibilities are endless. I hope this book will help fuel your imagination and allow you to catch the wave of the voice era!
