Alec pens a thoughtful piece today taking the results from a recent report from Jajah based on their interviews with C-level telecom executives and findings from IBM and postulating what they mean for the future of our industry. Check it out, it’s very nicely done.
The interesting part for me comes in Alec’s analysis:
And, touching on another very old theme from this blog, carriers are
finally understanding that they cannot hope to do it all themselves. My
friend Chris Wood first constructed this chart of Chris Anderson’s Long
Tail applied to telecom three years ago. Today’s carriers are duking it
out amongst themselves on the left side of the chart, but the potential
for rich new telecom applications in the blue area — applications which
marry dating, classifieds, travel and other web based services to
telephone — is immense. Monetizing that long tail is going to require a
platform based approach, and a focus on engaging the developer
community. Those that are afraid of the “talkification of the web” need
to find a way to embrace it.
And doesn’t that last sentence distill the problem? Those that are afraid of this need to find a way to get over it. It’s sort of like what happens in my house at bedtime. My youngest child is sitting in bed afraid of something ridiculous to us, but very real to him. (We’ve been through aliens, tornadoes, robbers and yes… the Bermuda Triangle.) My fatherly response is “Hey listen, the problem is that you are afraid of the wrong thing. You’re afraid of aliens that don’t exist, but you’re not afraid of your mother who’s going to be pissed when she sees that you’re still awake. Aliens don’t exist. Your Mom does. Go to sleep.”
Web technologies exist. The age of software based telecom has arrived. Traditional barriers like geography, regulation and walled gardens are fading. Let’s all make sure that we’re afraid of the right thing. Don’t be afraid of the web, be afraid of not being able to support the innovation it provides, because if you don’t, your alien competitor will.
One Comment
I think that this whole long tail theory is pretty straight forward. In my estimation it’s obvious that somehow, it will help the big players drive more revenue. Sooner or later it will become obvious to them.
But the real challenge - and this applies to not just them, but all the Voice 2.0 players is HOW.
The Voice 2.0 community, in my opinion is still a little scattered. Thought leaders like yourself, Alec, Jon Arnold and others point the way. But (speaking for myself alone) I think all of the Voice 2.0 companies would do well to get together and discuss better ways to mature the market.
I think once we’ve found the way to really engage people and markets, that’s when all of these concepts will take off.
Side note. My middle son woke up one night. He had heard a “very scary noise.” What was it? “MEEEOW.”
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[...] There are two very good posts today from people at the forefront of Voice 2.0. Alec Saunders (Jajah change is in the wind) talks intelligently on how carriers are finally taking notice that they need to embrace the next wave - which is Voice 2.0. In order to fight declining revenue and smaller margins, they need to find ways to increase traffic. Thomas Howe adds his thoughts here. [...]