It’s Official: Microsoft Buys Tellme

It’s a done deal.

Steve Ballmer said the mobile arena would be the next battleground for Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and others, particularly in the area of search. The best way Redmond can work the field is to buy itself a great weapon. Hence the purchase of Tellme. The paperwork still needs to be completed; Microsoft says all will be stamped and filed by the close of Q2 2007.

As per convention, Microsoft has not disclosed the number of zeroes it’d be writing on the check, but like we mentioned in our pre-purchase piece, $800,000 is what the people are saying.

Published in The New York Times, a Bloomberg report yesterday (March 15th) on the press release showed Tellme with not only a firm grip on the consumer side (phone listing requests, and Internet searches, all commanded through voice recognition software), but with a sizable (and growing) list of corporate accounts. Tellme currently “handles toll-free customer-support hot lines for… Merrill Lynch, FedEx (big client), Domino’s Pizza, and American Airlines,” as well as “about 40 percent of directory assistance calls in the United States…through contracts with phone providers.”

That puts $800,000 in dead presidents in perspective, does it not?

As more details about the purchase rise to the surface, we’ll know much more about what Microsoft intends to do with the acquisition. Various Microsoft employees and spokespeople have spoken about the company’s desire to expand its reach into the mobile market, looking to make it easy for users of Microsoft’s mobile software to search the Internet for information more effectively than they’ve been able thus far.

Unless one is proficient in using a miniature QWERTY keyboard or remains focused on his or her standard 10-digit keypad, entering the desired characters obtain the desired information is hardly an easy method. If one has able software at the back end (i.e.: Tellme), speech commands can be a far more efficient use of time and energy. For many years, Blackberry-style keyboards were thought of as the new way forward. They helped empower users. But we’ve quickly reached the limit as to what a keyboard can provide. Of course, it’s absolutely necessary for specific tasks, like email, document, and spreadsheet edits. Yet for casual searches, particularly when one need not remain hush-hush (say, in a museum, lecture hall, library, or meeting room), voice recognition software is an obvious top choice – though a choice that has been available in too few scenarios. Voice-activated dialing, for example, or automated customer service.

Want another stat on Tellme? According to Credit Suisse, the company has annual revenue of $100 million.

Note: Those located in the US using a Verizon residential line or AT&T/Cingular wireless phone may dial 411 to connect to Tellme. Or call 1-800-555-TELL from any phone - landline or mobile.