FWDLabs

Telephone calls address only a narrow slice of communication demand

Very few people seem to appreciate the idea that telephone calls do not address all potential communication demand. This represents an example of the "moth phenomena" where the moth can't resist the flying around the brightest light even if they end up starving to death in the process. The average entrepreneur interested in a communication application can't help but attempt a play for a cut of the trillion or so telecom revenues floating around. This leaves the world stuck in horseless carriage mode, ends badly for a lot of entrepreneurs, and fails to improve the available communication options.

Framing the challenge as one of creating the Communication ISP equivalent to the existing Information ISP's represents an attempt to break the telecom myopia. SIP provides for VoIP the same utility as TCP provides for the file transfers associated with the world wide web. The number of elements that make all the functionality associated with the www have expanded rapidly over the years. A similar development process needs to take place regarding the real-time sessions enabled by SIP. The success of VoIP requires a specialist ISP focused on enabling communication functionality.

The limitations of traditional telephone service in terms of audio quality, user interface, and cost shape the types of useful applications. VoIP solutions offering enhanced audio quality, a different user interface, and global flat rate termination will lead to different applications. These new applications can get driven by the virtuous circle of content attracting audience and audience attracting content. These points all admittedly fall into the category of theory and the task of proving the theory still has a ways to go before anyone claims victory.

posted by Daniel @ Wednesday, August 06, 2008