Since voicemail was invented in the late ‘70s, it has been one of the few wireless applications that has remained essentially untouched. Users dial in to a network-based system, punch in a password and listen to a 30-second recording. Until recently, not many companies have tried to break this mold -- or, if they have, they were largely met with resistance from carriers whose focus was on other wireless apps.

This is starting to change as voicemail gets more attention as a visual application. Apple and AT&T gave the term “visual voicemail” new meaning when they introduced the iPhone with its email-style organization of voicemails by the caller’s name and time. Taking the buzzword one step further, voice-to-screen provider SpinVox has been on the scene since 2005, converting voicemail messages into text for 130,000 retail users.

Just yesterday, Alltel Wireless became the first of the five largest U.S. carriers to introduce the SpinVox service called Voice2TXT to its 12 million wireless customers. The service works as intuitively as the name suggests. When a voicemail is received, it is automatically converted into text message form in a consumer’s inbox. The user can then read the message and respond, either by texting or calling, in any environment -- a loud, crowded concert or work meeting. Consumers can also store and forward converted voicemails as regular text messages as well as retrieve the original voicemail at any point.

The service works in four languages -- English, French, Spanish and German -- so the consumer base has potential to be widespread. The service, however, will cost subscribers between $5 and $20 per month for 20 or 100 conversions, so the price point might turn away some otherwise eager adopters.

While Alltel is the first major U.S. carrier to actually go visual with voicemail, companies including Comverse and Glenayre have had multimedia voicemail solutions for a while now. Comverse’s visual voicemail solution, integrated with RIM’s BlackBerry in 2005, allows customers to manage SMS, email and voicemail from the same message list. Competitor Glenayre’s Active Messaging service acts as a multimedia mailbox that ties the voice message box to the phone’s display so consumers can receive video messages in lieu of plain audio.

With the exception of RIM, these services have yet to really gain traction with the carriers. So, while not revolutionary, the progress of SpinVox in the U.S. is a commendable attempt at breaking the mold with voicemail. As companies take more steps to change the way consumers access their voicemail, it will be interesting to see whether consumers actually prefer to look at their phones or listen to them.

E-mail me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.