CTIA announcements are already starting to trickle out. Here’s two that I know of:
— Jott Networks Launches BlackBerry App: The Seattle company, which allows you to covert voice messages into text, is expecting to announce a BlackBerry app on Monday just in time for CTIA. The app is closely integrated into the device, and will allow you to reply to an email using your voice, which is then converted to text. Within an email, users can use Jott, which is listed in the main menu, to respond to messages. John Pollard, the company’s CEO, said speaking a reply is at least five times faster for short messages, and encourages leaving longer messages. To publicize the launch, they’ve created a funny campaign advocating for thumb yoga on tersereplysyndrome.com. The company asks, how often do you write a lengthy and thoughtful email to your boss, and get responses, like “needs work,” “see you Monday,” or “talk to you later.” Jott is the remedy. Pollard said the launch of the Blackberry app is a shift from its approach to being carrier and platform agnostic, however, he said up to 15 percent of its users have a BlackBerry, so there was signficant demand. This launch doesn’t mean others are in the works. “We want to test this to see how this goes,” he said. Hopefully, it goes well. Jott is up against SpinVox, which just raised $100 million from Goldman Sachs. In contrast, Jott has $5.4 million in financing (from no slouches — Bain Capital, Ackerley Partners, Draper Richards, and Skype’s founder), and 20 employees. Pollard said the competition is good: “Hopefully, they spend a lot of it and raise awareness of the business.” The company also redesigned its Web site yesterday. There, you can add nifty features like Zillow, the house valuation site. While on the road, you can call in and Jott an address to Zillow, and get a text message back on the house’s value to cure your curiosity.
— Dashwire Launches Public Beta: Dashwire, also based in Seattle, helps wireless subscribers sync their online life with what they do on the phone. Once signed up for the free service, all phone content
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