Bubble Motion Awarded First ‘Voice SMS’ Patent

Big news coming in on the voice blogging front this morning. Bubble Motion has just told us that they have been awarded the first patent for ‘Voice SMS’. According to a release, the patent covers the ability for users to click, record and send voice-recorded messages to one or multiple recipients without actually needing to place a call. And the technology, while retaining the simplicity of text messaging will overcome its greatest limitation – the ability to convey emotions through the tone of a message. A drawback we have all seen first hand.

The patent, which was filed in 2002, was the first Voice SMS patent to be filed globally. Preceding any such filing with the US Patent Office. The company believes that this patent affirms their leadership in voice messaging innovation.(Technology Diagram Below)

Tom Clayton, CEO of Sequoia Capital backed Bubble Motion said, “It’s extremely gratifying to be recognized for the years of R&D work that has gone on at Bubble Motion, in innovating in the mobile messaging space with our global engineering team. Our team has broken ground in so many areas, and being awarded the original Voice SMS patent adds to our strong hold across a broad set of mobile messaging intellectual property, positioning us for further evolution from here.“It is also important to look at the implications this patent could have on other companies working on voice innovation. Apple – which earlier this year acquired Siri, a virtual personal assistant. Google and Yahoo both of which have voice assisted search. Voice bases SMS companies like Vlingo and Kirusa could be directly impacted.

Of course all this depends on how Bubble Motion chooses to enforce its Intellectual Property. We have contacted them for a comment on this and are waiting for a reply. The company also runs a voice based blogging service called BubbleBlog, which it describes as Twitter with a voice.