Apple Inc. is reportedly testing an application that would allow Siri, the iOS intelligent personal assistant, to answer phone calls and then use its voice recognition tech to transcribe voicemail messages. iCloud would then send the converted voice message as a text to the user's iPhone smartphone.
The new service is reportedly called iCloud Voicemail. It would basically handle the messages the same way it processes voice translation, according to Gizmodo.
CNET editor Dan Ackerman noted that the application would be ideal for people who hate repeatedly hearing voicemails. The new process would be much faster.
Apple employees have already started testing iCloud Voicemail, according to CBS News. It sends callers data about users' location and why they cannot answer their phones.
However, the difference is that the caller will not be sent to voicemail. Instead, Siri will take the call and then transcribe an audio message.
Ackerman shared that Siri's voice recognition tech has improved greatly over the past few years. This makes it possible to transcribe the voice message.
If Apple can get the technology to work, it could be rolled out during next year. That would be just in time for the release of iPhone 7 and iOS 10.
Still, Apple is not the first company to develop voicemail transcription. Carriers such as Google Voice and T-Mobile offer similar services, while the former has recently added an accuracy boost of almost 50 percent.
The iOS upgrade would be a hit with millennials. That is because they usually use voicemail less frequency than older netizens, such as Generation X and Y. It could also be argued that people rarely use mobile phones for their original purposes, and think that listening to voicemails is a nuisance.