The W3C released first drafts of the XML-based Speech Recognition Grammar Specification and Multimodal Requirements for Voice Markup Languages, while eWeek ran a story noting VoiceML's potential impact.

The Speech Recognition Grammar Specification "defines syntax for representing grammars for use in speech recognition so that developers can specify the words and patterns of words to be listened for by a speech recognizer." It currently provides both an augmented BNF and an XML grammar, but notes that the inclusion of both requires further consideration. An appendix includes samples of both grammars.

Multimodal Requirements for Voice Markup Languages defines the needs of the Voice Browser working group for integrating "speech recognition and synthesis, displays, keypads and pointing devices".

Both drafts are products of the W3C's Voice Browser Activity.

In Calling up e-com business, a general article on the potential for voice infrastructure to supplement Web infrastructure, eWeek notes that:

"analysts warn that for e-businesses that provide a wealth of information and evolving services on their Web sites, Web scraping may not be the answer. A better choice may be the emerging VoiceXML standard. The distinction of VoiceXML among existing environments such as HTML or XML is that VoiceXML includes a set of tags, or commands, governing the management of telephony functions and features."