Is Voice Dead?
01/14/2009 07:31
I’ve been saying for a while that the next generations communicate differently than past generations, moving away from voice into other mediums. Not exactly a revelation there, but the calls that say ‘voice is dead’ are getting louder. Some of this is just posturing and hype as trade show season starts, but is voice really dead as some would say? No, and to say it’s dead is missing the point. It definitely has been put in its (increasingly minor) place but why is this a surprise? Will voice ever actually go away? Of course not. The point is there is not one golden bullet when it comes to communications and the telecom industry still can’t get a handle dealing with how people communicate. We keep recreating past experiences with a modern twist. Now more than any point in history, individuals are communicating in a multitude of ways and with more than just one person at a time, and that is a challenge for telecom vendors and carriers. The telephony networks were constructed to deliver services to an address, to whomever was at that address. Mobile communications seem to be more personal, but it is still a matter of services delivered to a device, not to a person. Don’t think so? I bet you can’t pick up someone’s cell phone and register yourself on it and receive a call. Every shopping site I go to I have to re-register myself including address and payment information. It’s just like walking into individual stores in a mall and having to pay at each store before I move on to the next one, but without having to leave home and without the convenience of a credit card reader. I can go to nearly any browser and log in to my Facebook page, my Amazon account or my various message boards. Those services follow me wherever I go. But if I leave my cell phone at home, I’m done as far as receiving calls or texts from anybody. That’s one problem. The other is that all of my services continue to be individual services, maybe grouped together. My cell phone, IM and Facebook addresses and friends lists remain individual. Every Web site I visit requires a unique identification (usually an e-mail address and a password). Even my wireless carrier requires me to have a unique user name and password for each cell phone in my family for me to add features, even though we are on the family plan and it’s all on one bill. The challenge for our industry is that vendors and operators still treat each form of communication independently. You have voice services, text services, instant messaging, video calling, VoIP (a technology, not really a service), as well as the multitude of social networking options. Many people today are trying to reach multiple people at one time, or just send a quick message. A voice call is not the way to do it. There’s too much social protocol involved (“Hi, How are you? Good, you? Fine, thanks. Hey I was wondering....” It just takes too long.) The Washington Post is stating that text messaging has exceeded voice traffic for the first time in history. This has been going on for a while, but we are definitely past the point where voice is the dominant form of communications. And the impact of this shift? Wait until January 20th. According to the very official-sounding JCCIC (the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies), “Be aware that it may be difficult to talk or send pictures from your cell phone, according to wireless companies. Please use text messaging to send critical messages.” Bring yourself, but especially your thumbs. Additionally, it is hard to find a PowerPoint presentation on Cisco’s Web site anymore as video has taken over as the Cisco communication format of choice. CNN boasts a wealth of multimedia content across its news options, both professionally and reader-generated. Alcatel-Lucent has done well integrating PowerPoint with Flash Videos to drive their points home in a multimedia format. And pretty much every vendor’s Web site today features some sort of flash, video or YouTube-type experience. Nearly all of the major telecom vendor’s Web sites have gone Hollywood. Interestingly, none of the major U.S. wireless carriers have a video content feature on their home pages. The time is now for implementing truly next-generation services and solutions, instead of incrementally better ones. We are missing the point trying to pick video over voice, IM over e-mail, and so on. Instead of picking A format, we should be loading our kit with multiple tools to use as appropriate. Video is a great medium for communication — it offers the sights, sounds, emotions and context of a story beautifully. But if I’m just trying to understand the story quickly or scan the facts, video is a less than efficient medium. We need to address the problem of multiple address books, friends lists and the authentication and payment duplications. IMS promises to merge applications together so that we have common access, but that has not happened yet. Will it? Chris Nicoll is a principal at Nicoll Consulting Inc. His more than 20 years of experience working for telecom equipment vendors, carriers and as an industry analyst has helped him build expertise in evaluating competitor strengths and weaknesses, developing market messaging and positioning, and building multinational cross-organization relationships to develop, coordinate and implement corporate strategies. Nicoll previously worked at Alcatel-Lucent/Lucent Technologies, Current Analysis, Visual Networks, Netrix and Tymnet.
User Comments !
Internet and modern technology has really changed how we communicate.Just as an example, I find it more effective to use sms to convey messages than the olden days' snail mail.
Posted by: Sarah Summer | April 08 2009 12:11:14
It is interesting because the thing a bit different from culture to culture. In Japan where I'm from, people tend to not like direct communication so most people use text messages over the cell phone. In North America, it still seems they communicate a lot by phone etc (I mean through real voice) ...
Posted by: Teru | April 09 2009 20:13:05
I think voice will be here forever. Texting and emailing is ok but there is nothing like a person's voice.
Posted by: jerry rogers | April 29 2009 21:12:46
No Chris, Voice will be here forever and that's true, and I agree with Jerry that Internet and e-mailing can't replace the importance of Voice. I value voice.
Posted by: Steave Andrew | May 14 2009 05:52:31
It's true. There's nothing like text or email is equal to a person's voice...
Posted by: Angela | May 16 2009 17:30:20
Of course voice will be with us forever, but it is probably losing its ground as a medium of communication.
Just look at how many blogs we have over the net... And now with Twitter and microblogging, I don't think we'll be using our vocal chords for the majority of our communication in the future.
Posted by: Ed Amado | June 24 2009 20:49:47
Hearing your love one's voice is irreplaceable even when there are text and e-mails. And also there could be delays in text and e-mails but not when you're calling. That's why I can say that voice is not dead and will be here forever.
Posted by: Tom 'Carpal' Nicholson | June 29 2009 14:01:58
I think time is ripe for a new technology which will change the way we communicate, something like when concept of Mobile phone was introduced.
Posted by: James | July 08 2009 03:59:48
It is interesting because the thing a bit different from culture to culture and different age groups. In Sweden where I'm from, people tend to not like direct communication so most people use text messages over the cell phone. I prefer phone because its quicker but i do get called weird for that sometimes.
Posted by: Pocket Bike rider | July 15 2009 05:23:04
I agree a persons voice is better used to get the feeling of what the person is feeling but emails to me are much more accurate and have no static or out of range problems.
Posted by: fred | July 16 2009 15:53:51
no, i don't think voice will be dead, it's just that there will be other mediums that give people options to communicate. i have friends who prefer texting to talking and find it easy to spontaneously text than to talk. honestly, i find this interesting but who am i to judge how a person communicates--just as long as they do it, then it's fine by me.
i myself love to text but have no problems switching to voice or posting in facebook. it's just a matter of that person's preference. so no, voice isn't dead, there are just too many mediums being created to give users a choice in terms of how they want to communicate. everyone will always go back to voice...
--John C
Posted by: John C | July 20 2009 12:44:44
You know I'd like to be able to buy a cellphone that is just a phone... no camera, no mp3 player, no gps, and I'd like to to be affordable and have high quality reception. The Industry itself is force feeding features ... so they can cell (pun intended) more and more add on services. So voice isn't dead it's being diluted in the name of profit.
Posted by: Vans | July 20 2009 18:15:55
No.
Well... Ask a silly question!
Comments?
Posted by: Join Wikaniko | July 24 2009 13:13:02
I do not think that voice is dead or it every will die- no! I think that with ever increasing internet use all over the world makes people want more voice conversations in the near future if they get lonely and bored with writing and reading text messages.
Posted by: David3210 | November 04 2009 02:41:21
I won't say that voice, but there sure is less talking going on these days. The other day, I noticed that probably 60% of drivers text while driving. 7 years ago, they would have been talking to the person that they are texting.
Posted by: Jeff | November 04 2009 12:36:16
I think it's as close to dead as possible - the whole idea of online enetrtainment nowadays is the anonyomity that goes with it. Unless someone can reinvent it into a practical and effective tool and somehow integrate it with our daily internet useage, I can't really see it rising from the grave.
Posted by: Eurail | November 08 2009 00:58:42
Even though we have SMS and email now, there is nothing like the good old phone call. Try calling your friend from the phone then SMSing/emailing him/her, and watch his/her different reactions. IMO nothing personalizes your message more than your own, unique voice. I doubt voice is/would become dead! It is very much alive online in the form of podcasts! :)
Posted by: Martha Jones | November 11 2009 18:15:40
Voice will and always be...forever! People may pass away but VOICE remains alive as long as there is a word such communication. Nowadays, we are using different types of media in communicating especially with the use of internet, texting and emails but don't you ever think that these media will be replaced by those of voice...when you open a webpage a moderator will tell you what you are going to do, instantly? Or receiving a text message that is talking? or an email that is reading the texts using the sender's own voice? so no..VOICE is NOT DYING!!
Posted by: Howard Stewart | November 18 2009 05:39:50
I would always prefer calling rather than email or sms.
Posted by: Vijy | November 18 2009 06:26:39
There isn't nor will there ever be any comparison to voice. Emails and text are a good tool, but voice voice and voice!
Posted by: solvesudoku | November 21 2009 03:40:11
No media is dead, there are just more of them nowadays. So we have the choice of which to use and of course voice is an important element of that. Just use the method that's most appropriate at the time and which you feel most comfortable with.
Posted by: Ian | November 24 2009 16:08:35
People prefer voice medium from ages, it cant be replaced.
Posted by: rahul | November 29 2009 00:53:17
I agree a persons voice is better used to get the feeling of what the
person is feeling but emails to me are much more accurate and have no
static or out of range problems.seo
Posted by: Brenda Cope | December 01 2009 15:02:54
Voice will never die however, how we interact with one another is constantly changing. It's worth noting that as technology evolves, communication online is starting to include microphones as a way to communicate. A perfect example of this is online gaming.
Posted by: Megaminis | December 07 2009 14:44:42
I don't think voice will ever die. I think text will actually level out ang go in reverse at some point.
Posted by: Daily Recipe | December 12 2009 11:27:53
I think email and microblogging is another way of comunication that complements voice
Posted by: Fire Extinguishers | January 02 2010 09:23:07
I won't say that voice, but there sure is less talking going on these days. The other day, I noticed that probably 60% of drivers text while driving. 7 years ago, they would have been talking to the person that they are texting.
Posted by: branda cope | January 08 2010 13:05:35
I won't say that voice, but there sure is less talking going on these days. The other day, I noticed that probably 60% of drivers text while driving. 7 years ago, they would have been talking to the person that they are texting
Posted by: seo | January 11 2010 12:31:12
I checked my phone the other day, I'd sent 7 text messages in 18 months, don't see the point, quicker to ring the person up, plus texting is ruining spelling and grammar.
Posted by: Bed Bugs | February 17 2010 15:25:19
Texting and the internet are really killing interaction with voice. Good article!
Posted by: Naples lawn service | February 19 2010 16:59:13
If you want to hear my opinion, I think that we can say bye bye to voice messages soon. With Twitter and microblogging that are rising and rising...
Posted by: Davy | February 20 2010 17:48:50
Lets keep us talking and communication for the future. Texting is destroying grammar as we know it, and it is sad to watch.
Posted by: Michigan health Insurance | February 20 2010 23:48:04
Its funny but now they offer voice to text for lots of smart phones. Seems to be going in the wrong direction.
Posted by: Ky Cheng | February 21 2010 18:03:00
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