iPhone Savior: Could Google's Voice Search Become An iPhone App Killer?

I just replaced my calculator, weather app and stock app using voice search on Google Mobile. Well, sort of. For example, I searched for the square root of 40, the exchange rate of Dollars to Pesos, what time it was in Australia, I searched for San Francisco weather and converted miles to meters. All voice activated. I was blown away when I voiced in (AAPL), Apple's stock symbol, results came up in seconds. I said; "Apple, Inc. stock" without using the symbol and reached the same stellar results. The upgraded Google Mobile app with voice search opens up fresh possibilities that already make some of my iPhone apps feel obsolete.

Many of these features have always been a staple of Google, but now they've become far more useful with a voice search mobile app, amounting to a great leap forward for Google. In fact, Google's voice search may just become the new iPhone app killer.

I tried searching for restaurants speaking "Sushi, Seattle" into my iPhone, several listings came up with a one touch phone number and a "get directions" tab that opens the Google Maps app. Voice search makes many of the tasks listed on the Goggle Search Features page conveniently accessible. I voiced in "Quantum of Solace", Seattle without having to open any other app, showtimes for theaters closest to my current location were right there along with phone numbers. You can also search for weather or showtimes by voicing in weather plus the zip code or showtimes plus zip code.

Google Mobile may not be ready to replace some key apps quite yet as it's still in need of some refinement, but it's certainly possible in the near future as Google ramps up more focus and detail on mobile development. Using more speech-recognition and less touch gestures could eventually take over iPhone navigation completely, launching every app by simply speaking its name. Imagine dialing every call, reciting text messages and emails using speech-recognition. That would be extremely cool.