Quiet on the blogging front means I have been busy. That revised website should start rolling out any time, much delayed. As we start a new year, change is always contemplated. The change that I talk about is market disruption characterized by the century, not just this year. We are all burdened with last century’s concept of the telephone. The TeleVoce mission is about bringing this century’s communication model to our last century perspective.
I refer to our genetic encoding about what the telephone experience is. We can’t help being human. Change is very complex. Those who still don’t believe, try changing any simple habit like the way you drive to the market or work. Or the way you clap.
The telephone genetic encoding has multiple dimensions from familiarity with 12 keys to how we decide to call someone and when. It is all changing, but we do not change as fast. New communication models should not be about adding new buttons. How about removing some buttons! New models of communication are not about packets of data. The change is about what you do with those packets. And the user should not give a whit or have any idea whether there are packets or not. Of course, we can’t stop repeating VoIP. I can only wish that wasn’t pervasive, but that is my personal fantasy. VoIP, VoIP, VoIP! Yikes.
Of course, we have to keep talking about VoIP, but we must collectively not get trapped by the technology. Every market shift goes through this and I just happen to have a very close up seat for this one. One of my goals for our new website is to provide some help to get us all through this. We are all using our father’s phones, no matter how many more buttons or features. As an industry we need to be sure that we are creating products that are also enabling really new uses to emerge.
The simple example that I like is that Internet voice allows calling to become a foreign concept for some. I am connected and you are connected. If we want we can just leave our audio –and video channels connected. Period. No calling. You are there and I am there. What is distance about? What is metered calling about? Are you next door? In the next room? Around the world? Your father never considered that.