The New York Times reported that Google is launching a new voice-recognition search app for the iPhone. The program, which can look up contacts as well as transmit spoken queries to the search engine, has yet to show up in the App store, but should be available at any time now through iTunes.

So far, the only way to search Google has been through the built-in Safari browser, so this a welcome change. Using the built-in accelerometer and sensors, the app will even know when you're lifting the phone up to your face, which launches the voice recognition software. The queries are then sent to the search engine, which analyzes them and returns results back to the phone in seconds.

What's interesting here is that it's being launched on the iPhone -- not Android. (Are they doing this to work out the kinks before they unveil it for their own platform?)

Speaking of kinks, I'm expecting this to be a little buggy at first. Voice-recognition apps like Jott for iPhone and Reqall are some of the best, and even they are a little hit or miss. But if the ubiquitous search giant can nail accuracy rates at even 50 or 60 percent, I'd still be glad to have the option. If it becomes even more accurate than that, I may give up Google SMS for good. New Yorkers are infamous for schlepping tons of stuff around with them, and speaking into a phone is soooo much easier than dropping all your stuff to touch type into a phone.

Take a look at the NYT coverage here.