You've got it right, Voice Search and Google Now are separate entities living in the same Google search app. IIRC the keynote introduced it as something like "T

You've got it right, Voice Search and Google Now are separate entities living in the same Google search app. IIRC the keynote introduced it as something like "The New Google search = New UI + Voice Search + Google Now", so no contradiction there. People just happen to like calling the entire app "Google Now" since thats the part they remember, so it became tradition. Much like how some people call the iPod Touch the "iTouch".