Tellme Networks

Not to be confused with the TellMe speech recognition system found in Windows Phone.
Tellme Networks, Inc.
Company typesubsidiary of Microsoft
IndustryTelecommunication
Founded1999
HeadquartersMountain View, California
Key people
Mike McCue, Chief executive
ProductsTelephone services and applications
Number of employees
360 (2008)[1]

Tellme Networks, Inc. was an American company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis,[2] which specialized in telephone-based applications. Its headquarters were in Mountain View, California.

Tellme Networks was acquired by Microsoft on March 14, 2007, for approximately $800 million; the deal closed in late April 2007.[3] In 2006, Tellme's phone network processed more than 2 billion unique calls.[4]

Tellme established an information number which provided time-of-day announcements, weather forecasts, brief news and sports summaries, business searches, stock market quotations, driving directions, and similar amenities. Operating by voice prompts and speech-recognition software, it was set up in 2000 as a loss-leader service to demonstrate the Tellme functionality to U.S. consumers. The voice of the Tellme service is Darby Bailey.[5]

In early 2012, Microsoft divested itself of Tellme Networks' interactive voice response (IVR) service and the majority of its employees to 24/7 Inc.[6] The service was moved to a non-toll-free number.

  1. ^ Liedtke, Michael (March 1, 2008). "Tellme's Tale As Microsoft Subsidiary". Associated Press via Wired News. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  2. ^ "Tellme's Naughty Schoolboy", Business Week, March 13, 2006, archived from the original on March 14, 2006.
  3. ^ "Microsoft Purchase of Tellme Adds Voice To Web Initiative", The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2007, retrieved 2009-06-01
  4. ^ "Tellme and Cingular Plan Broader Directory Service", The New York Times, October 9, 2006.
  5. ^ Weingerten, Gene. "Directory Persistence helps find Darby". Star-News.
  6. ^ "Microsoft offloads some speech-focused assets, employees to 24/7", ZD net, February 7, 2012, archived from the original (World Wide Web log) on February 9, 2012.