Ever been guilty of texting while driving (TWD)? Ever had to fumble trying to find directions?  Well we are excited to  announce “Vlingo InCar,” the first and only completely hands free solution that allows you to send and respond to messages, make calls, and get directions while driving. Check out pieces of our press release below.

Vlingo InCar offers:

• Voice-driven, hands free initiation – Vlingo enters listening mode upon Bluetooth® connectivity
• Voice driven, hands free initiation using a “wake up word”
• Conversational user guidance instead of a touch screen
• Ability to send and respond to messages, make calls and get directions using only voice commands

“Vlingo InCar was a natural extension of Vlingo’s functionality so that users can now have an alternative, hands free way to communicate when they need to respond to an urgent message,” said Dave Grannan, president and CEO at Vlingo.  “Although 30 states presently have full or partial bans on texting while driving (TWD), data from Vlingo’s Texting While Driving in America 2010 Report shows that 35% of those surveyed still continue to TWD. Legislative action is an important step but clearly laws are not enough, we are going to need technology solutions.”

“Sprint firmly believes in helping wireless consumers combat texting while driving with engaging educational tools and innovative products that assist them in drastically changing this dangerous behavior,” said Ralph Reid, Sprint vice president for corporate social responsibility. “With Vlingo’s hands-free application on the Android Market, drivers are able to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel, and Sprint is pleased to support Vlingo InCar as an application for its wireless customers. “

Availability, Compatibility and Price
Vlingo is available free of charge for Android 2.1, and above. Note Vlingo InCar beta is exclusively available on the Sprint Now Network and is optimized for the HTC Evo and other Android 2.2 devices.  To see when Vlingo InCar will be available for your U.S. carrier wireless carrier, click here.   U.S. users can download Vlingo on device from the Android Market for free.  Watch Vlingo InCar in action

This year CNBC filmed Vlingo’s new, free, SafeReader product. CNBC aired the clip yesterday during the first day of the show, shortly before the daily “Closing Bell” segment.

Check it out below!

So how was this year?

There are several things I could say along these lines but let me start with this. Vlingo has made ourselves known in the industry. Last year, we would spend all of our time talking about two things. First we would tell people who we were and why our company was created. Then we would give them a demo and watch their jaw drop to the floor. (It was a lot of fun!) This year, we no longer have to explain who we are and most of the people I speak with have already downloaded our application to their iPhone or Blackberry.

One more thing I noticed is that the number of companies claiming to have services similar to Vlingo has increased significantly in the last year. But I remain really encouraged because we continue to rise above the noise. Most of the competitive service offerings have serious limitations that include a reliance on human transcribers or general functionality limitations and people tend to notice those things pretty quickly. Sometimes we are simply competing against another company’s promise that they can eventually do what “Vlingo does”. But they can’t. However, we will not rest on our laurels. We will continue to innovate and get back to those jaw dropping moments!

RIM’s launch of their BlackBerry App World™ was also a bright spot for us. It was a great launch and Vlingo has been between the #4 and #7 top downloaded application (depending on carrier and device) on that storefront since the first day!

Before I close this post, I’d like to say a few things about the industry itself. In many ways, CTIA was noticeably quieter this year due to the overall economy. Many companies scaled down their booths or skipped that part of the show altogether. Taxi lines were simply long instead of completely-insane-long and hotel rooms could be had at a reasonable rate. But I noticed that none of the people I spoke with were depressed about the economy. Everyone is looking forward. Everyone is looking to find ways to give innovative and useful services to their customers. And companies are increasingly concerned about providing a better user experience in those services. And this is great for Vlingo because this is exactly what we are passionate about!

And so we are looking forward as well. See you next year!

Troy Cross – Head of Sales and Global Alliances