Andy penned a thoughtful piece yesterday on what’s next in communications. Taking the dual news of the carrier “Skype Killer” and the recent blockbuster WiMax announcement, Andy speculates that perhaps what’s coming next is video:

Instead of simply being another voice play to battle Skype or the mobile operators, the WiMax companies and the cable operators, and heck, even Ma Telco may all may find that they may be better off looking in another direction.

That direction is real-time video communications bundled up along with other IP related services like voice and text, all in one neat little package.

Why video when selling voice to their already installed user base is already there for the cable guys?

Because it is different.

In essence video is the next level of real-time communications to be nurtured and embraced, not only because its ready now, but because it also gives the WiMax, Telco and cable players a very different value proposition to offer and lead off with.

By offering and delivering video, along with voice and text as the new universally used platform for real time communications voice gets to come along for the ride via a real standard, SIP (session initiation protocol.) On the other hand, Skype with their self-created stigma with P2P remains further anti-telco That goes hand in hand with already being perceived by the cable MSO’s as the enemy too. Both factors makes the opportunity around making a lot to do around SIP standard based video the perfect way for the cable folks and the telcos to unite around a common bond. You see, if they don’t join hands and play together no one really wins at all.

Rrrrrr. Andy might be right; I can’t tell. It feels so much like Brittany Spears to me. There’s somebody in the world that’s a talent agent, who can look at some singer and say “you’re the next big thing” and be right about it. Not me - not that much imagination. I always hated Brittany’s music, all the way through her mega-stardom, and as she crashes a Mercedes Benz a day…. I don’t. She wins. (Well, if she learns to take her medicine and has some decent quality of life, she wins. As it is, I’ll take my 94 Volvo and a happy home life. But you get the picture.)

I’ve got a VoIP famous friend that’s doing a video startup, and I love what he’s doing, and I’m going to help him however I can. It’s a very exciting product, and if I weren’t on my mashup mission, I’d probably beg him for a job. I say that because I’m a video geek. I admit it. How many more of us are there? I’d like to think there are, and it’s compelling enough for me…. are there enough of me? I can’t tell. Not that much imagination.

But that’s what it’s going to take, I’m afraid. Unlike voice mashups (gotta get that plug in), I can’t make ten thousand hard core businesses cases for video. I can make… ten. Twenty on a good day. That’s more than enough for my friends company… is that enough for Sprint? You don’t have to like voice mashups, because wether you like them or not, they save insane money for enterprises, they like saving money, so boo-hoo for you. Video needs customer adoption and acceptance, and I hope they do.

Posted by Thomas Howe @ 9:14 am | Filed Under Lead Stories |

Comments