IDG Contributor Network: Why is retail afraid of voice recognition for mobile apps?

Retailers have overwhelmingly avoided any attempts to dabble with voice recognition — and even mobile music integration is just being addressed slightly — but that is a huge error.

One of the inherent limitations in GUI design for mobile as well as desktop devices is the pulldown menu. Granted, it comes with the huge plus of being able to deliver a clean and relatively effortless experience. Instead of having to limit how customers phrase a question, your pulldown forces them to use pre-programmed answers.

That is, in effect, forcing shoppers to interact with your system in your way, rather than your system tailoring its content to the customer. This tactic was used by designers 10 years ago because technology limitations made it the best option. But technology has come a long way since then, and GUIs need to incorporate those changes.

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