Throwback Thursday: From Large Mobile Phones to Small Mobile Phones...and Back to Large?

Happy Throwback Thursday!

With all the buzz around the announcement of the new iPhone 6, and the competition releasing their new smartphones on the market, it seems fitting to look back at the beginning designs of mobile phones. 

To the left you can see the progression of mobile phones. When Motorola first put out their cell phone, it was almost bigger than a house phone, but as time went on, they recognized the demand for smaller phones. Likewise, other major cell phone manufacturers followed suit and kept trying to make mobile phones smaller and smaller. 

As you can see in today's generation, mobile phones are turning into smartphones, and those smartphones are reverting back to the 'bigger is better' motto. Apple typically remained the same size, but with their latest iPhone, the screen is much larger than previous models. It is comparable to Samsung's Galaxy Note smartphones. With all the features and capabilities, developers needed to adapt the user interface to better fit all of the functionality. 

Similar to smartphones, the User Interfaces (UI) of Virtual Agents have progressively changed over the course of time to better accommodate users. In the past, Virtual Agent interfaces were text on a DOS screen, and eventually evolved to look very similar to AOL instant messenger. Now, Virtual Agents have become more sleek, can include multi-pane U.I.'s, avatars and promotions, the potential for speech capabilities, predictive text, and much more. In the past, Virtual Agents found their home on a website, and were best accessed from a laptop or computer; however, today, Virtual Agents make so much sense for the mobile customer experience (right, Siri?).

The user interface is not the only thing that is constantly updated; the administrative tools have also come a long way. For example, Virtual Agents can now integrate with third-party platforms, provide custom reporting, and with the Internet of Everything now in play, the capabilities are endless.  

What do you think the future of user interfaces will look like? How do you think the Internet of Everything will play a role in device designs?  
www.nohold.com 

Happy 15th Birthday, noHold!

Photo Credit: mecury-labs.com

Last Friday, September 12, we celebrated noHold’s 15^th birthday. We have always prided ourselves on being one of the longest standing virtual agent vendors to date. In an interview with Connected World Magazine, Diego Ventura, the CEO of noHold, talks briefly about how the concept of noHold all started.

“CW (Connected World): It is said that the past is prologue, and in that spirit, can I ask you to describe how you came to start noHold 15-years ago?

DV (Diego Ventura): noHold is my second company; my first company was STEFRA Corp. We created a product called Video Control that was bundled with most of the Web cameras of the time. It was a very successful enterprise for us, but it also meant that millions of new customers had questions about our software. I have always been passionate about AI (artificial intelligence), so we thought about creating an Expert System that could answer customers’ questions automatically. The idea caught on and I realized there was the opportunity to create a separate company. I raised $15 million from VCs (venture capitalists) and started noHold.”

To read the full interview, please follow this link.

Throughout the years, we have continued to watch and contribute to the growth of this industry. noHold has acquired great experience over the 15 years of developing Expert Systems and we've determined best practices that help our clients enhance the customer experience, but our technology is also flexible and continuously adapting to keep up with the rapid growth of technology. As the acknowledged leader in Web based self-service solutions, we are very happy that in the past few years, Virtual Agents and artificial intelligence have grown to become household names. More and more people are feeling comfortable interacting and having a conversation with their technologies (artificial intelligence) than ever before. We predict great growth in Virtual Agent adoption, especially within the Internet of Everything (IoE). Nevertheless, we are looking forward to what the next 15 years will bring. Cheers!  

www.nohold.com

Tim Cook Says, "People Want to Relate to Their Phone in a Different Way"

About two years ago, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, was interviewed and asked about Siri. His response was, "I think Siri has proven to us that people want to relate to their phone in a different way. Yes it can be broader and so forth, but we see unbelievable potential here. I think you're going to be happy with where it's going. We're doubling down on it." (wired.co.uk)

Fast forward 2 years, we can tell that they are doing some serious upgrading to Siri technology to keep up with the competition. As we mentioned yesterday, Siri has some interesting new features to appear in the updated iOS8. Back in August, Apple submitted a patent application for a Siri-like virtual assistant for Mac's (appleinsider.com). And now, they are expanding their Siri office in Boston to accommodate their continued work on speech recognition technology. "Earlier this year a report in June suggested Apple could be looking to replace Nuance as the speech recognition component used for Siri pointing to several new hires at the company." (9to5mac.com)

Siri, and other Virtual Assistants alike, provide users with a sense of connection to their devices, making it more personal. It has completely changed the way humans interact with not only our phones, but technology in general. Virtual Agents are being used more and more for customer support (helping users solve their own problems), sales (giving users knowledge and recommendations based on specific, personalized information), and care (letting users know information about their shipments/orders).

Do you agree that Siri has changed the way we relate with our devices? Imagine a life with a more intuitive and interactive Virtual Assistant; similar to a trusted 'pal' that can predict your needs/wants, give you relevant information in real time, and assist you with things such as scheduling, shopping, and controlling other devices. Siri might not be there yet, but it seems that the future of Virtual Assistants is moving in that direction.   

www.nohold.com

Apple's Big Announcement: What Does This Mean For Siri?

"Today, we are pleased to announce the biggest advancement in iPhone." -Tim Cook

The much anticipated Apple event occurred this morning in Cupertino, CA. Here, they announced some of the latest features integrated into the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. 

• Much larger screen.  iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch display. iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch display. 
• The cover glass is made up of a Retina HD display.
• There is a updated Home screen for landscape mode.
• iPhone 6 has a 8MP iSight camera, 1.5µ pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture, with an all new sensor.
• The predictive keyboard learns your conversation style and helps you answer accordingly. 
• The new Health app gives you a detailed look at your health and fitness data.
• See how much faster and easier it is to pay with Apple Pay
• Pre-order your iPhone 6 starting Sept. 12

Not only did they announce all the newest features integrated within the iOS8 platform, they also unveiled the newest addition to their product line, the Apple Watch. Looks like the rumors were right; Apple joined the market for wearable devices. Check out the sleek design.

Photo Credit: Apple.com

Siri also made it's way into the Apple Watch. The iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and Apple Watch all run iOS8, which made some significant updates to Siri. Though, the event did not mention Siri much, back in June at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, they mentioned some of the updates Siri will be getting in iOS8. 

• Shazam song recognition
• Voice activation, all you have to do is say "Hey, Siri."
• Streaming voice recognition
• 22 new dictation languages
• Purchasing iTunes content

Do you think this face lift be enough to keep Apple on top of the Virtual Assistant game, competing with Android's Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana?   

www.nohold.com

noHold Participates in a Case Study with Partner, Rackspace

Here at noHold, we love getting feedback from our customers. It is a great way to find out if we are providing the best products/ services possible, what ways we can improve, and how we can customize products to better fit the needs of our audience. Just recently, Dario De Santis, our Product and Engineering Manager, participated in a case study for one of our partners, Rackspace. They are a well-known managed cloud computing company based in Texas. Here is a brief video of Dario explaining how our involvement with Rackspace and their services is truly essential to providing our customers with the best foundation possible for their products.

There is also an article explaining a little more in depth why Rackspace works so well for noHold. To read the full document, please click here.

Is customer feedback a key performance indicator for your company? Why or why not?  

www.nohold.com