Comments on: Does The Average Person Want Voice 2.0?

By: Fractals of Change

Fractals of Change — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:49:51 +0000

Voice 2.0 – Fuggetaboutit!…

There isn’t gonna be a new killer voice application! Old friends from my VoIP days aren’t gonna believe it’s me saying that but (with lots of hindsight) it’s the truth. New phones? Yes! Different pricing? Yes! New features? Sure. Major new capa…

By: loopy

loopy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 09:06:04 +0000

I think the issue is that the driver for developers to create apps is to have direct access to customers. If we compare Phonegnome to Asterisk you will see why developers work with Asterisk and maybe why Phonegnome does not have the same developer success.
- Developers can use Asterisk to make a product/service and enter into the market directly and get their own customers
- Developers making a product/service with Phonegnome only get access to Phonegnomes customers

Even big names such as Skype and Vodafone do not fare well [even with the number of customers they have]. BTW the latest Vodafone initiative is doomed [ http://www.vodafonebetavine.net/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=default

My personal view is that Phonegnome is a great product and should be a great product/service enabler, let the developers be ‘powered by Phonegnome’. Let them face the customers direct, drop the walled garden approach.

By: Aswath Weblog

Aswath Weblog — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 13:05:04 +0000

Still Looking for Voice 2.0 Features…

There was a time when Jeff Pulver will periodically lament about lack of new and exciting features and will talk about Purple minutes that became Purple Applications. A few days back, David Beckemeyer raised the same concern. He points out……

By: PhoneBoy

PhoneBoy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:24:08 +0000

And you’re absolutely right. In 1990, I was one of the few people who knew what the Internet *was*, mostly because I happened to be working on the right project at the right place at the right time in *high school*. Unless you were a CompSci major at a University around that time (or managed to finagle access to such a system for some other reason), people never heard of the Internet, and it’s nothing like it is today. Obviously, you were among the people helping to make it what it is today.

Meanwhile, I agree with you. The tools exist today–on multiple platforms–to bring Voice 2.0 into reality. The Internet has always worked around dead nodes, which include regulatory roadblocks. The question is: who is going to do it first in a big way?

By: David Beckemeyer

David Beckemeyer — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:34:14 +0000

You make a good point, but it is orthogonal to my complaint.

I wasn’t speaking about the lack of demand for Voice 2.0 apps. from end-users. How can they demand things that they’ve never even seen before. We of course do have a lot of data about demand for more advanced features, and while niche, even with the dearth of advanced features available, sufficient interest and demand is there, for the apps and features that provide real value. Your point is well taken however, and I think you’re right, that not all people give a hoot. But if you asked those same people in 1990 (and believe me I did) if they wanted the Internet, most of them would have said no.

My point was more to the whining by the pundits, experts, analysts, bloggers, and other net know-it-alls about the telcos not opening their platforms, about net neutrality issues holding them back, and such, when the platform for offering these apps exists here and now and requires no more capital than putting up your average Wordpress or MT blog. So now what’s their excuse?

By: ted

ted — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:21:58 +0000

You’re right Dameon. The problem is that while 2.0 present a wealth of new features, the basics are not quite there 100%. And this will kill a user’s interest. Ie. “screw it i can’t even make a decent conference call.”