The main problem with general purpose real-time voice recognition is that current hardware is simply way too underpowered to accomplish the task. For instance, running the Dragon 11 SDK on an Intel Atom Z3770 has it about up to a minute behind transcribing the conversation! So I fear Transcene's approach is using the inferior Google Speech API which plainly put, sucks donkey balls, and is no way comparable to the latest Dragon engine. Apple uses the Dragon engine to implement Siri.
There's also the social burden of needing speakers to install an app on their smartphones and also actually have a smartphone in the first place. Will this be a free "remote mic" app such as Dragon 13 provides or does Transcene expect speakers to pony up the monthly cost as well?
I too think businesses and institutions will not allow this because they need overpriced ADA compliant solutions due to regulations. An example would be Interact-AS which is $800 and is essentially a fancy overlay for the Dragon engine (or Microsoft Speech in the low-end $150 version). Dragon itself only costs a one-time $99 to $199!
I'm also skeptical there's a viable business model in this. The vast majority of the deaf are on fixed incomes and not employed, so what is a relatively expensive $30 a month for app access buying them exactly? It better be a superior remote client to server transcriptioning experience! What's to stop Dragon from enabling multiple "remote mic" apps to work all at once with the mothership PC in their next version, etc.? And if not a client server model, what are the minimum hardware specifications to get "one second" transcriptions? A $599 smartphone is a ridiculous and overpriced luxury for the deaf.
As for Google Glass, it is a non-starter. No one wants to look like an idiot constantly staring off into their peripheral vision to read text instead of looking at whoever is speaking -- which is why Google Glass has been such a massive failure. What is truly needed is spatial aware, augmented reality where the transcriptions are placed over who is speaking via beaming text onto normal glasses or directly onto the retina. This technology already exists in various forms; it is just a matter of a real world implemention into a "killer app". Transcene, are you paying attention?
Nonetheless, this is a very important step forward that no one else is really doing, so I'm in for $250... and holding my breath.