2) VoIP. Consumer VoIP often elicits a shudder since over-the-top competitors like Vonage Holdings Corp. have struggled financially and in some cases imploded. However PC-based services like Skype are getting smart, making mobility a central part of the strategy and wrapping in Web functionality like IM, presence and IP video to provide a compelling differentiation to traditional RBOC service. Not just for cheap calls anymore, companies like Jajah and Truphone are also capitalizing on the popularity of the iPhone and social networking to appeal to a wider cross-section of consumers with a wireless-centric application play.
3) Computing. The idea of cloud-based and Web-delivered voice and data services is becoming a dominant conversation, and new market entrants from the computing sector are accordingly hopping into the breach. Google Inc. for instance is adding new Web services into its application portfolio all the time, and offers Google Talk voice chat. Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. are of course wireless players. And open application server companies like Broadsoft are providing ways to embed voice in productivity and Web applications to provide voice mash-ups that in many cases could replace traditional telephony or give facilities-based CLECs a way to add revenue and pull more market share from the RBOCs.
A Look at Innovation
Ma Bell gave birth to seven regional Baby Bells in 1984, and the good news is that an era of competitive innovation began that eclipsed the sum total of the previous 108 years since Alexander Graham Bell completed the first telephone call.
Some highlights:
Mobile wireless voice became a reality.
Fiber optics and microprocessors became game-changers.
IPTV and IP video are mainstream.
The dot-com bust, the fall of Worldcom and the telecom winter of 2001 taught us the meaning of the term “irrational exuberance.”
The line between data providers and voice providers has blurred beyond comprehension. IP services and VoIP have radically changed both the cost of delivering services and the types of services delivered.
The back office, OSS and equipment vendor landscapes leapt ahead by light years in terms of technology, tapping into the network transformation opportunity.
Ecosystems of third-party applications have sprung up, sounding a death knell to the traditional walled garden approach.
Unified communications for the enterprise is a reality.
Wi-Fi whet an appetite for wireless broadband that shows no sign of abating.
Pervasive mobile broadband will be here sooner rather than later.
Cloud and Web-delivered services for consumers and businesses alike appear to be leading the next communications revolution.
Mobile broadband devices are ever more intelligent.
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