Voice Interfaces - The Next Computing Platform?

May 2017 marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of human-computer interaction, as voice interfaces transition from novelty to mainstream adoption. With Amazon's Echo devices surpassing 10 million units sold and Google Home gaining traction, voice is emerging as a potential new computing platform that could fundamentally change how users interact with technology.

The Voice Assistant Ecosystem Expands

The voice assistant landscape is rapidly evolving:

• Amazon Alexa: Now with over 10,000 skills (third-party voice applications), establishing an early lead in the ecosystem
• Google Assistant: Leveraging Google's knowledge graph to provide more contextual responses
• Apple Siri: Rumored to be launching a dedicated smart speaker at WWDC in June
• Microsoft Cortana: Expanding beyond Windows to third-party hardware through the Cortana Skills Kit

The competition is intensifying as each platform seeks to establish itself as the voice interface of choice for consumers.

Beyond Smart Speakers: Voice Everywhere

While smart speakers have been the primary vehicle for voice interfaces, the technology is rapidly expanding to other contexts:

1. Automotive: Both Amazon and Google are integrating their assistants into vehicles, creating voice-first interfaces for navigation, entertainment, and vehicle controls
2. Mobile Devices: Google Assistant is now available on most Android phones, while Amazon is partnering with manufacturers to integrate Alexa
3. Appliances and IoT: Voice control is becoming a standard feature in smart home devices, from thermostats to refrigerators
4. Enterprise Applications: Voice interfaces are beginning to appear in business contexts, particularly for data retrieval and simple workflow tasks

The Voice-First Design Paradigm

As voice interfaces mature, a new design paradigm is emerging that differs fundamentally from graphical user interfaces:

1. Conversation as Interface

Voice interactions require thinking in terms of conversations rather than screens, with considerations for:

• Natural language understanding and generation
• Managing conversation state and context
• Handling ambiguity and clarification

2. Multimodal Experiences

The most effective voice experiences often combine voice with visual elements:

• Amazon Echo Show (rumored to be launching soon) will add a screen to the Echo experience
• Google Home can send visual results to Chromecast-connected TVs
• Mobile voice assistants leverage device screens for complementary information

3. Personality and Brand Expression

Voice interfaces require explicit design of personality traits and conversational style, creating new opportunities and challenges for brand expression.

Technical Challenges and Advancements

Despite rapid progress, significant technical challenges remain:

1. Natural Language Understanding: While improving rapidly, voice systems still struggle with accents, complex queries, and conversational context
2. Authentication: Voice interfaces lack secure authentication methods, limiting their use for sensitive transactions
3. Discoverability: Users often don't know what capabilities are available through voice interfaces
4. Privacy Concerns: Always-listening devices raise legitimate privacy questions for consumers

Recent advancements in deep learning are addressing some of these challenges, with error rates in speech recognition dropping below 5% for major platforms.

Voice Commerce: The Next Frontier

Voice-based shopping is emerging as a significant opportunity:

• Amazon reports that Echo owners spend 10% more on Amazon after purchasing the device
• Voice ordering is particularly effective for reordering consumable products
• Major retailers including Walmart are partnering with Google for voice shopping capabilities

However, voice shopping remains limited to simple purchases where visual browsing isn't essential.

Implications for Product Strategy

For product teams, voice interfaces present both opportunities and challenges:

1. Platform Strategy: Deciding which voice platforms to support and how to maintain consistency across them
2. Use Case Identification: Determining which features are appropriate for voice interaction
3. Measurement and Analytics: Developing new frameworks for measuring success in voice interfaces
4. Organizational Capabilities: Building teams with the linguistic and conversational design skills needed for voice experiences

Looking Ahead: The Voice Roadmap

As we progress through 2017, several trends are likely to shape the evolution of voice interfaces:

1. Contextual Understanding: Improved ability to maintain context across multiple requests
2. Voice Identification: Better speaker recognition for personalized responses and security
3. Proactive Assistance: Moving from reactive to proactive interactions based on user context
4. Ecosystem Consolidation: Strategic partnerships and acquisitions as the market matures

Conclusion: Voice as a Complementary Interface

While voice interfaces are growing rapidly, they're unlikely to replace screens entirely. Instead, they represent a powerful complementary interface that excels in specific contexts:

• Hands-free situations (cooking, driving)
• Simple queries and commands
• Home environment controls
• Accessibility for users with visual impairments or limited mobility

Organizations that thoughtfully integrate voice capabilities into their product strategies—focusing on use cases where voice truly adds value—will be best positioned to capitalize on this emerging platform.

As natural language processing continues to improve and voice ecosystems mature, we can expect voice interfaces to become an increasingly important part of the computing landscape, potentially rivaling mobile as a primary way users interact with technology.

This article was written by Nguyen Tuan Si, a product strategist specializing in emerging user interface technologies and their business applications.