SpinVox's crash to earth

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In a rapid fall from grace, UK-based mobile software developer SpinVox was this month sold for just $102.5 million to rival US firm Nuance, having been valued at $500 million in 2008. The brainchild of high-profile executives Christina Domecq and Daniel Doulton, SpinVox's claim to fame was that it had developed software for converting voice mail messages to text or email. Or had it? In an embarrassing admission, Domecq was forced to reveal recently that SpinVox's system was only 85%-90% automated. Yes, in some instances, SpinVox was using people in call centers to convert the voice-to-text messages! Double Ouch.