So it turns out I could have cashed in my government bonds and bought EDS, guys. Because I own almost $14 billion in bonds, right? Sure. Anyway, HP announced today that it’s buying Texas-based Electronic Data Systems. You might recognize EDS from our own little magazine–EDS’ Alex Halikias writes a column for us called “Inside Outsourcing.”

The announcement means HP will be able to stake a claim in the technology outsourcing space, and directly compete with IBM. As more ginormous companies and government agencies turn to outsourcing tech projects, the market is expected to grow, according to analysts quoted in the news article. The acquisition means HP will now have 210,000 employees in 80 countries. Whoa — we have three editors at Speech Tech.

HP makes the big bucks in selling printers, PCs, and servers, but also made $16.4 billion in revenue in business consulting. The EDS acquisition will only further strengthen the company’s grip on business and technology consulting. We’ll keep you updated with news when we hear more. Also, EDS’ CEO, Ron Rittenmeyer, will stay on board with the same title. [MercuryNews.com]

In other news– Though Nuance ended its second fiscal quarter with revenue above expectations, the stock has been sliding. Goldman Sachs analyst Derek Bingham is quoted in the article as saying:

“Nuance’s March report showed that the company’s Network Speech business is not immune from macro slowing, consistent with slowdowns we’ve seen in other large-deal areas of software.”

The company’s stock is down almost 7 percent today. [Barron's]

[Image: LearnMergers.com]

We received a reply from a post I wrote awhile ago about the Android phone project, from Ivan Uemlianin. He writes:

Re Android: Google seem to have quietly removed the speech.recognition package from the Android API. I say quietly: the removal is noted in the API Diff specification for M3-RC37a to M5-RC14, released 15th Feb, but I haven’t been able to find any more public announcements - for example, it wasn’t mentioned in the m5-rc-14 release announcement.

Google have also not responded to a couple of queries about android.speech.recognition on the android-developers mailing list.

I was also very interested when Android was launched last November, especially with the involvement of Nuance, and the prospect of an accessible speech tech API. However, the speech tech parts of the Android API were never made available and now they’ve been removed. It’ll be interesting to see what the iPhone has to offer.

Is it true? Someone help. Ryan and I are very distressed. Well, as distressed as we can be about this.

Holy crap. Big news from Cupertino today! Resident Speech Tech heartthrob Steve Jobs announced that the long-awaited iPhone SDK will be published. You know what this means: let the app games wars begin. Since the iPhone debuted without speech, Apple opening up the floodgates to developers could come as a means for big-name vendors like Nuance to pounce.

For anyone who attended Conversations ‘07, you’ll remember [aside from the 90-degree Boca weather] the short video aired at one of the mobile session opening speeches. In the video, a guy using an iPhone performs various Web searches using his voice — he navigates pages, writes reviews, and gets directions. So while a lot of people in my generation [30-and-under] still aren’t entirely sold on the idea of TTS and STT (I know I’m going to get flack for saying that, but you’re hearing it from a REAL 23-year-old with tons of iPhone-using friends), I’d be interested in seeing how speech heavyweights might take part in the app-building process. And if anyone would use it.

Don’t think I’m too cynical, though — OK, I am. I also enjoy playing devil’s advocate. What do you think about speech + the iPhone? I’m still curious as to the possible implications of that little speech patent Apple released in December ‘07, and how speech recognition could play a part in the next iPhone, or in its SDK.

Related Stories:
- Apple Prepares iPhone SDK [eFM]

[Image: SiliconValleySleuth] 

I’m not sure about the rest of our readership, but it’s a news-rich day here in the Speech Technology offices — early versions of the Android phone were unveiled today! Ryan wrote a brief news article about the open-source phones back in November 2007, and both he and I have been eagerly awaiting demos of the Android since.

And today, we finally got tangible evidence that the Android is progressing nicely. Just 45 minutes ago, the BBC News reported that several companies showcased prototypes at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The best part? The first Android-enabled phone is, according to the article, expected to be released later this year.

Approximately one dozen companies took part in the demonstration, all of which are directly involved in the Android project. Companies mentioned included: Texas Instruments, ARM, Qualcomm, Marvell, NEC, and SET Microelectronics. Ian Drew, from the company ARM, told a BBC reporter,

What we are demonstrating on the Android platform is maps, browser, camera applications, multimedia, e-mail, and calendar - basically everything you’d expect on a mobile phone.

Of course, the partner we’re most interested in is Nuance Communications - which is, as Ryan reported, part of the project contribution team. How will speech play a role in the Android? We’re hoping it’s something similar to the mobile search/SMS dictation currently provided on the Palm Centro (read more about that here). We’ll keep you updated about Android as we learn more in coming days, weeks, or months.

Related Stories:

- Google Android phones make debut [BBC News]

- Google Android coverage [BBC News]

(Image courtesy of BBC News)