Acapela TTS for IOS

Hello Ricardo,

Thank you for your interest in Acapela Group and for using our voices.

As you summed it perfectly, the manufacturers' strategies were very different.

Very soon after launch, we were able to add our voices directly to the Android operating system, whereas the iOS environment was closed. In the iOS case, we had to work in partnership with integrators where our voices were embedded in their own applications. As a token of our appreciation, we don't want to have our voices in the system, but to keep them in the applications.

That said, new voices with emotion is one of our priority areas of development. And all our covered languages will benefit from this evolution. It's a question of time.

I'm sorry I can't give you more concrete information.

But feel free to contact me if you have other questions.

Best regards,

Developers of apps like VDR have been pushing these companies away from making their voices available on iOS independently.

I respect your opinion, my friend, but I don't agree with it. I don't think it's the fault of third-party application developers dwarf availability of the voices of those who manufacture it throughout the system. It is an option solely and exclusively from the producers of the voices, so much so that another company that produces synthetic voices, Cereproc, gave me a positive response when I asked them to make their voices available to us, as follows:

Hello Ricardo,

Thank you for getting in touch to tell us about your use of CereProc software, and what you'd like to see in the future.

In regard to the development of an iOS app, using Apple's newest TTS API, we are soon releasing an application. This app will be very similar to the Android app as it'll allow users to purchase and use voices within the app, and across their system.

We are looking to have the app released in the next few weeks, as we are at the tail end of development. If you'd like to be notified about the release of the app, I can add you to our mailing list.

Do let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Ewan Donaldson.

I still think it's this very reason, the ability to make profit without having to invest so much, that holds Acapela Group and possibly some others from stepping up to make their voices available on Apple devices, as third-party developers signing contracts with them have already been paying them in return for the permission to offer their voices for purchase in their apps.

Yes, but the profit would come anyway and I don't believe the investment has to be so big. Imagine each user buying one or two voices, not to mention the payment they would receive from the App Store every year. Also the fact that, unlike what happens on android and Windows, on iOS the possibility of piracy is much lower

Yes, my friend. I understand and agree that the iOS system is flowing well, especially in terms of accessibility, it is much more important than having new voices for the system. The question here is this: Apple has done something unimaginable if we stop to analyze its posture of closing its ecosystem: it has released an API that allows developers to provide voice synthesizers that do not come by default in the system. Believe it or not, many people like Android more because of this openness, third-party synthesizers have been around for a long time in this system. What happens is that the developers were not so enthusiastic about this new freedom that iOS gives us, so much so that we have not yet had any official synthesizers of these large companies available on our iPhones. What we are trying to do, I personally at least, is to encourage these developers to make use of this new moment of Apple, which will be beneficial for everyone: Apple, users, developers, etc... Again, voices are not the most important thing we have in the system, but we have to take advantage of the openings that a company as closed as Apple has given us. Imagine this: as strange as it may seem, I know people who love the extremely robotic voices of the eSpeak synthesizer, And check it out! Now we can have it on our iPhones! Wow! Also the voices that most like the Vocalizer synthesizer are not there these things lately, not because of Apple I know, but it's true...

Having a variety of voices to choose from is awesome, but at least for now, I'd much, much rather see Apple fix all the issues we're having to deal with. If that ever happens, then I'd be a bit more inclined to get excited about possible 3rd party TTS options. I'm pretty sure that there isn't a voice out there that would be better than Alex for my personal preference, but if Acapella Tracy ever became available for the iPhone, I'd at least give her a chance. Then again, it seems that Tracy isn't really around all that much any more. She wasn't offered as a choice when Humanware added new voices for the Brailliant yesterday.

Can some other company not develop its own voices for iOS as Apple fixes bugs that have been present and being reported for years, or were introduced recently? Why should Apple's (lack of) interest and willingness to fix bugs and improve the overall experience have anything to do with Acapela Group's or some other companies plans on making its voices available on Apple devices? As for the fact that Vocalizer and now eSpeak-NG is already offered for free along with a bunch of other options like Eloquence and the so-called novelty voices, I don't think Acapela Group would earn that much from sales on the App Store, as they would also have to pay Apple themselves instead of having third-party developers deal with Apple and just get their payment.

Perhaps I’m missing something but I don’t see what the conflict is here.
Apple has already done their part, there is an API for third party text to speech engines, which others including eSpeak have already taken advantage of to release apps. The original poster and others are just hoping for Acapela to do the same.
That has no impact on what Apple does in terms of fixing bugs or anything else. Both things can happen with no impact on each other.
Dave