AOL Acquires Voice Portal Quack.com

America Online Inc. (AOL) Thursday announced the acquisition of voice portal Quack.com Inc. for an undisclosed amount. AOL plans to use Quack.com's voice recognition services to offer its Web content via telephone, said a company statement.

Using spoken or voice commands, members will be able call in and access AOL's online content over the telephone, including stock quotes, traffic information, weather reports and sports and movie information. Quack.com will provide the technology that helps the AOL system recognize spoken commands and provide the text-to-speech tool that will execute the delivery of the content over the telephone.

AOL currently has 23 million members and claims that Quack.com's acquisition will add the remote capability that will move "the AOL experience beyond the PC" and give members access to the Internet "simply by talking with it."

Bid.com International Inc. stands to gain from AOL's acquisition of Quack.com. It made an initial investment of US$1 million in Quack.com and stands to gain $23 million after AOL's investment, the company said in a separate statement.

Vendors are showing heavy interest in voice and speech-recognition websites. AT&T Corp. recently made a $60 million investment in Tellme Networks Inc. [See "Vendors Talk Up the Potential of Voice Portals" May 26].

AOL, in Dulles, Virginia, can be reached at +1-703-448-8700 or at http://www.aol.com/. Quack.com, in Sunnyvale, California can be reached at +1-408-747-7330 or at http://www.quack.com

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